Maybe You Would Understand
by luvscience
Summary: Aubrey has always lived her life with the expectation that she would settle for getting married to some well-connected man that her parents approved of. A small alt girl enters her life like a wrecking ball, blasting apart all of Aubrey's well planned intentions. What will her parents, in particular her father, say when she tells them about Beca? M for swearing, maybe more later
1. Chapter 1

A/N: The idea for this fic came while listening to Pandora (yes, like a lot of my other fics). The song 'If You Could Only See' by Tonic came on and thus it begins. There is a similar theme at its core to 'I Want to Wake Up Where You Are' but has a different take on the subject matter, and I'm hoping for a much happier ending overall. The first chapter is a little short (about 1.5k words), setting some feelings in with the Pitch Perfect background.

Some AU things – don't know if it's really AU, but I'm assuming that Chloe and Aubrey share a room in the same dorm as Beca. The shower scene really doesn't work if Chloe (at least) doesn't live in the same dorm as Beca. Why would she be there if she didn't (and no, guys and girls don't share bathrooms in dorms, so it wouldn't be the guy's showers)? Haven't figured out how Jesse will play into this yet – friend, pest, romantic competition? Best guess is pest right now.

Yes, I'm still working on my other fics while I write this. My mind still isn't in the best place and I thought working on a couple of different fics would help keep me from getting bogged down in my own thoughts. The Karma epilogue for I'm Falling to Pieces is at about 3k words and I would break it up into pieces if I could, but I'm writing it non-linearly so unfortunately that really isn't an option. I also have a Bechloe piece and a Steca piece waiting in the wings to be written, so those ships have something to look forward to in the near future.

Summary: Aubrey has always lived her life with the expectation that she would settle for getting married to some well-connected man that her parents approved of. A small alt girl enters her life like a wrecking ball, blasting apart all of Aubrey's well planned intentions. What will her parents, in particular her father, say when she tells them about Beca?

Rating: M (for language for the time being – probably starting in Chapter 2)

Disclaimer: Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 are not owned by me and my intentions are noble when I play in their universe.

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It all started that fateful day at the Activities Fair. Aubrey turned just as the small alternative brunette walked up to the booth. Aubrey just stood there with her mouth open as she took in the sight of the smaller girl. There was something about the smaller girl that got to Aubrey. Sure she was good looking, but it was more than that. If Aubrey had to pin it down to one thing, she would have thought it was her confidence. It wasn't the over the top confidence of that Stacie girl who had stopped by earlier (and Aubrey thought she was overcompensating for something) but it was a quiet confidence, like she knew who she was and didn't care what the world thought of her.

Aubrey sighed to herself, this would not do. She couldn't be attracted to a girl. Well, she knew she could because she had already taken a critical look at her sexuality. She was at best bisexual, at worst she was a lesbian. Her logic being that if she were bisexual, she'd at least have a chance of being in love with her future husband. If she were a lesbian, she only had a loveless marriage of convenience to look forward to because she was a Posen and homosexuality was not tolerated. She would marry someone that could make her family's legacy stronger, as she'd been told ever since she was a little girl.

This wouldn't do, she had to nip this in the bud before it even had a chance to think of starting. She was almost giddy because this was going better than she thought it would. The brunette didn't at all seem interested in acapella. Aubrey was smiling to herself and then the other girl had to go and call acapella lame. Aubrey starting defending the Bellas to the smaller girl, why she even cared what the brunette thought of her she didn't know. She finished their discussion by calling the brunette a bitch, well that surely nipped anything in the bud. The brunette casually informed them that she didn't even sing before she turned and walked away. Aubrey breathed an internal sigh of relief knowing that she would most likely never see the hot brunette again.

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Beca was wandering around the activities fair bored out of her mind, but at least it got her away from her dad. She walked aimlessly around the various booths until she saw one that actually got her excited. She walked quickly over to it only to find out that the DJs in Barden DJs meant deaf Jews, not actual DJs. The only thing that saved the experience somewhat was the laugh she got from the weird Australian girl that came up while she was at the booth.

She continued walking through the fair when a pair of very attractive girls caught her eye. The redhead turned and caught her looking but assumed, incorrectly, that she was looking because she was interested in their booth. That's how Beca found herself drawn into her pitch about acapella. While the redhead was really attractive, her eyes kept being drawn to the blonde next to her. She seemed to have a haughty attitude and that intrigued Beca and made the girl that much more interesting to her. When Beca called acapella lame, the blonde got in her face a little which impressed the brunette. When she called Beca a bitch, Beca couldn't help the impressed look she gave the blonde. She had to admit, the blonde had spunk and was good looking. But there was no way she was going to join an acapella group. So she lied to the two girls, explaining that she couldn't even sing anyways and then hoped that she would run into the two girls again some other time.

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Beca liked showering later at night in the dorms because the bathroom was usually pretty empty. She wasn't disappointed as she didn't see anyone at the sinks and she didn't hear any water running in the showers. She started singing 'Titanium' to herself while she turned on the water. She just about lost control of her bodily functions as she heard a voice behind her, right inside her little cubicle, saying "You can sing." As she concentrated on getting on getting her wildly thumping heart out of her throat she recognized the redhead from the activity fair, the one from the acapella group.

After she got over her scare and the redhead informed her that she wasn't leaving until Beca sung 'Titanium' for her again, Beca began singing while looking everywhere but the naked body in front of her. When the redhead starting harmonizing with her beautiful soprano voice, Beca actually started to relax and enjoy the song. She locked eyes with the redhead as they sang, forcing herself not to let her eyes stray down the naked body in front of her. As they finished, Beca's self-control vanished momentarily and her eyes scanned down to take in everything in front of her, giving a shy smile. The redhead wasn't embarrassed in the least, in fact she noted that she was "pretty comfortable with all this" as she indicated her naked body. Beca felt her heart jump back into her throat when a naked guy popped his head around the corner of the shower stall. Well at least she knew now that the cute redhead had a boyfriend, which was fine with Beca because the blonde had really piqued her curiosity at the activity fair.

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Aubrey was having a mini panic attack. Chloe had come back to their dorm room and informed the blonde that she had convinced that little alt girl from the activity fair to try out for the Bellas and she could really sing. This wouldn't do, she couldn't have that girl around her just about every day for the rest of the school year. She tried to convince Chloe that the brunette was just to alternative for the Bellas and that her ear monstrosities would turn off all of the judges. Chloe was having none of it, she was adamant that Beca be allowed to try out. If she didn't nail the audition then they would discuss not letting her into their group.

The day of the auditions came and while nobody really nailed their audition number, Aubrey thought that there was potential for some of the girls. She sighed to herself when the brunette didn't show up to audition. She actually had mixed feelings about it, while on one hand, not having to deal with a potential distraction all year was a good thing, but on the other hand she really had wanted to hear if she could sing as well as Chloe said she could.

Suddenly she was there at the side of the stage, shyly walking towards her and Chloe. Her conflicting emotions were reflected in the look she gave the girl coming across the stage, her face showing both disappointment and desire as the girl explained that she didn't know she had to prepare the Kelly Clarkson song for her audition. Aubrey couldn't take her eyes off of the brunette as Chloe told her to sing anything she wanted. Aubrey couldn't focus as she realized how pretty the girl really was. When she knelt on the stage and leaned over to grab the cup off of the table, Aubrey studiously looked at the cup rather than at the girl's cleavage. When the distraction had been removed, she wondered what the girl needed the cup for anyway.

Beca sat cross-legged in front of them and then started tapping the cup and clapping to set the rhythm for the song. Aubrey stared in wonder as one of the most beautiful voices she had ever heard came from the alt girl on stage. Her mouth hung open as she listened to the song and watched the beautiful girl singing it. When the girl finished Chloe was beaming at her and Aubrey was looking contemplative, wondering to herself how she was going to deal with being that close to temptation for an entire year.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I've decided I really hate trying to add feeling/thoughts to canon (or mostly canon) scenes. Just sayin. But I'm pretty sure that the background is set and we can get going with the story now

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2 and mean no offense by playing in their universe.

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Aubrey smiled at the girl from BU Harmonics as she filled her drink cup, catching up with her after the summer break. This was really the first time the four groups had gotten together this school year and she liked catching up with some of her acapella friends. It also helped that the BU Harmonics weren't a threat to the Bellas, not like the damn Treblemakers. When Aubrey turned to scan the crowd, she saw a Treblemaker talking with Beca. She frowned, what the hell was she doing talking to a Treble? Beca was laughing and touching his chest. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, fighting the urge to go up and punch the stupid boy for daring to talk to Beca. Aubrey thought to herself that at least this might put to rest whatever she had going on in her head about the damn alt girl because it looks like she isn't even into girls.

She sighed when the Treble walked away and was just about to go talk to Beca when she saw her bubbly roommate walk up to the smaller brunette. Aubrey sighed to herself when she saw the redhead lean forward and just about kiss Beca. Well maybe she was wrong, maybe she liked girls too. Of course the brunette would be attracted to Chloe, everybody else was so why not the one girl that Aubrey couldn't get out of her head. Aubrey couldn't watch anymore so she headed deeper into the crowd of students looking for another Bella to talk to.

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Beca didn't want to be here. The only reason she came was the hope that she could get Aubrey alone and talk to her, but it looked like that Fates were against her tonight. First, that obnoxious guy that sang to her when she first got to campus came up to her. Apparently he was in the Trebles and even if Aubrey hadn't threatened her vocal cords for hanging out with one, she wouldn't have wanted to anyway. Jesse was already drunk and god, if he ever called out her name like that again she just might have to rip out _his_ vocal cords. Then, what the literal fuck, he was talking about aca-babies. Like she would even think of being with him, even if she wasn't totally and completely into girls. She sighed to herself, this was a discussion she'd have to have with him when he was a lot more sober than he was right now because she doubted he'd remember it tomorrow.

She finally got rid of him under the guise of getting her a drink and was looking around for Aubrey when Chloe bounced up to her. Really, who bounces? Beca was surprised when Chloe took her hands and pulled her close. Dude, she wasn't going to try and kiss her was she? I mean she was cute and everything, but she had a boyfriend or at least she was in the shower with a guy just a couple of days ago. So Beca gave thanks to whatever Gods were out there that she didn't have to have an awkward moment of telling Chloe she didn't feel _that_ way about her when the redhead continued talking instead of kissing her. Beca couldn't help but laugh at the girl as she walked away shaking her ass and telling Beca "This ginger needs her jiggle juice."

Beca turned to find Aubrey but didn't see the blonde anywhere and then she swore to herself for not moving somewhere else (preferably not here) fast enough when the damn Treble came back, handing her a drink. Now she'd never get away to find Aubrey. When she saw him stand on the bench and yell at the sky that they were kings of the campus (or something like that) she knew that even if she was into guys that he would have never stood a chance.

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The stupid girl wouldn't leave Aubrey's thoughts. Why did she even care who the girl was interested in. Well, who besides a Treble that is, because no Bella could be interested in a Treble. Maybe if she was bitchy enough to her, she'd leave the group and then Aubrey could finally get back to focusing on the Bellas and her schoolwork.

So after making sure everyone knew the penalty for sleeping with a Treble wasn't just a threat by letting them know that Kori was uninvited the night before, she intimidated Mary Elise into admitting she slept with a treble before kicking her out of the group. That should give Beca something to think about. Maybe she'd leave the group on her own if she really was interested in that Treble, and good riddance.

Beca looked shocked at this, even muttering "Oh, you were serious."

Aubrey gave her a superior smirk, "Dixie Chicks serious."

Aubrey and Chloe then proceeded to go over expectations, give out sheet music to everyone for their specific parts and covered the basic choreography. When they were finished, everyone was dismissed but Aubrey asked Beca to stay behind.

Aubrey looked at the girl's ears as she noted, "You're going to have to take those ear monstrosities out when we perform at the Fall mixer."

Beca smirked at the blonde, "You really don't like me, do you?"

Aubrey rubbed her hands together nervously, "I don't like your attitude." Well, she wasn't really lying, not really.

Beca could feel the tension between them, "You don't even know me."

Aubrey countered, "I know you have a toner, for Jesse." Aubrey flinched internally, maybe she shouldn't have gone there. Did she really want to know about Beca's crush on the Treble?

Beca looked amused, "A what?"

Aubrey sighed, "A toner, a musical boner. I saw it at hood night, it's distracting."

Beca couldn't believe this, "That's not a real thing and besides, you're not the boss of me…so."

Now that the moment was here, Aubrey didn't know if she was doing the right thing by forcing the smaller girl away. She almost pleaded with the brunette to get her to see that a Treble wasn't the best option for her, "But you took an oath."

Now Beca was getting frustrated with the blonde because her worry was so misplaced, "That oath cost you two girls _today_. I think you need me more than I need you." God, why was this girl so infuriating? She needed to get out of here before she said something she'd really regret. Beca turned and walked away from the frustrating blonde.

Aubrey wasn't giving up yet, "I can see your toner through those jeans." Gah, why did she sound so stupid.

Beca turned around and smirked at Aubrey, "That's my dick. Besides, I don't swing that way so you don't have to worry about me getting a toner or anything else for a fucking Treble. So quit worrying your pretty little head over it."

Aubrey stood there stunned. Beca didn't like guys and she called her pretty. Well not really but it was close enough for Aubrey to latch her hopes on, not that she would admit to having any.

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Beca was wondering why she joined this stupid acapella group. Aubrey was such a domineering bitch and her musical taste was stuck in the 1900's. And the dance steps were unimpressive at best, boring would be a better word for them. If she had to sing another Ace of Base song she was going to go crazy. Why couldn't they at least sing something from this century? So Beca took it upon herself to complain about the music, yet again.

Beca dropped her hands to her side as the song ended, her head cocked to the side as she looked at Aubrey, "Why can't we sing something from this century?"

Aubrey looked at the brunette, "Because this is what the Bellas have always sung and we've done alright so far."

Beca huffed, "If you call getting our asses kicked by the Treblemakers every year doing alright, then fine, we're doing alright."

Aubrey glared at the smaller girl, "What gives you the right to question me? You have no clue what it takes to run an acapella group."

Beca threw up her hands, "No kidding because the great Aubrey Posen couldn't let anyone else have any kind of voice in the Bellas."

Aubrey glared at the other girl as she addressed the group, "Ok everyone, that's enough for today." When Beca started to turn, Aubrey's glare never wavered, "Except you Beca, I'd like to have a word with you."

The two girls stood there staring at each other as the other girls filed out of the practice room, both Stacie and Chloe throwing worried glances over their shoulders as they left. When Aubrey heard the door close behind the last girl, she finally let her pent up frustrations out, "What the fuck Beca, why do you have to question everything I do?"

Beca practically growled at the older girl, "Like you should talk Posen, why the hell don't you ever listen to anyone else?"

Aubrey took a step towards the brunette, "Maybe I actually know what I'm doing, have you ever thought of that?"

Beca matched her step forward, "Maybe that boring shit worked for the other Bellas, but this group needs something more than Ace of Base or The Bangles. What the fuck, who actually sings The Bangles?"

Aubrey's voice climbed a bit higher, "Those are classic songs and when they're done properly they can win us a National title."

Beca matched Aubrey's increase in volume, "The only thing those songs are going to do is put everyone to sleep, we need something more."

Aubrey stopped when she was right in front of the younger girl, "Why won't you at least give this a chance, why won't you trust me?"

Beca looked at her, "Because if there is one thing I know, it's music and this lame set just isn't going to cut it anymore."

The two girls stood there, staring each other down, panting slightly from yelling at each other. Neither girl would admit to moving first, but suddenly they moved that last bit towards each other. Their bodies mirroring each other as each girl slipped a hand around the back of the other's neck, pulling them together in a rough kiss. Beca's teeth dragged lightly over Aubrey's lips as she pulled back slightly before bringing her lips back to the taller blonde's. Aubrey dragged her tongue along Beca's bottom lip, demanding entrance. The smaller girl parted her lips but was not giving the blonde entrance without a fight, her tongue snaking out to tangle with Aubrey's; neither girl giving ground as their tongues fought for dominance.

Aubrey's free hand slipped around Beca's waist, pulling the smaller girl's body tighter against her. Beca groaned into the kiss as their bodies pressed against each other, slipping her hand around to cup Aubrey's ass. Aubrey's breath sucked in as she felt the brunette's hand slide over her ass before attacking her lips with renewed vigor.

Aubrey suddenly pushed Beca away from her, taking a step back with a panicked look in her eyes. She muttered under her breath, "No, no, no, I can't do this."

Beca reached out and touched the blonde's arm but she pulled away as if she were burned, "I'm sorry Beca, I can't do this." She ran from the room crying and apologizing the entire way, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Beca groaned as she looked down at her feet, muttering to herself, "Fuck, this isn't good." Then she steeled herself to go after Aubrey so they could at least talk this through, otherwise things were going to get really awkward in a hurry.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N:

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2.

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Beca bolted out of the building, looking around for Aubrey. She didn't see her blonde captain anywhere. Damn that girl must have sprinted away from there. She sighed as she started walking back towards the dorms, hoping that Aubrey would want to see Chloe after whatever happened between them.

Beca stopped in her room to drop off her bag before heading to the room the two captains shared. She knocked tentatively on the door and tried to give Chloe a smile when she answered. Chloe looked at her with a sadness in her eyes and backed up, letting the smaller brunette into the room. She saw Aubrey sitting on her bed with her knees pulled to her chest, her shoulders hitching up and down as she quietly cried. Chloe put her hand on Beca's shoulder before she stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

Beca sat on the edge of the bed and after a few moments of silence, she reached over and rested her hand lightly on Aubrey's shin. Beca sighed, at least she didn't pull away this time. Beca waited, knowing that Aubrey would have to be the one to start this conversation. Aubrey finally sat up, her back ramrod straight. She glanced briefly at Beca before starting at the wall across the room, "I'm sorry for acting the way I did tonight Beca. I shouldn't have kissed you and led you on when I knew there could never be anything between us."

Beca looked confused at the blonde. She started to reach out to place her hand on Aubrey's leg again when she saw the blonde stiffen so she awkwardly let her hand drop next to her. She countered, "I know you felt something in that kiss Aubrey."

Aubrey continued to stare at the wall, refusing to look at the smaller brunette. She shook her head slightly, "I can't afford to feel anything Beca. So I hope we can just pretend this never happened and go back to the way things were before."

Beca sighed, trying desperately not to let her tears fall, "I don't know if I can do that Aubrey, but I'll try."

She gave one last look at the blonde still sitting there pointedly not looking at her before getting up and walking to the door. She turned to whisper back into the room as she opened the door, "I felt something," and then she was gone.

Aubrey's head snapped to the door when Beca whispered but the brunette was already out the door and didn't catch the hurt in Aubrey's eyes when her words registered. Aubrey curled back up into herself, crying bitter tears. Why did she have to have feelings towards the stupid alt girl. Anybody else and she could ignore it, but there was no way she could ignore Beca. That's how Chloe found her, crying to herself in bed, pining for a girl she couldn't have.

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Aubrey hadn't lied to Beca, she was doing everything in her power to not feel anything and ignore what had happened between them. Well, maybe not completely ignore because she seemed to yell at the smaller brunette a little less over the next week. While Aubrey's demeanor hadn't changed all that much, Beca's had. Beca was withdrawn and quiet. When Aubrey yelled at her or complained about her performance, she just took it with a small look of hurt and the same response, "Sorry Aubrey." This was not the Beca that everyone was used to seeing and they were worried about her. That worry seemed justified one day when Aubrey went off on her for something trivial.

Aubrey was getting mad at the alt girl. She wasn't getting mad or frustrated or fighting her, she was just this mopey girl all the time. This was not Beca. Why wouldn't she defend herself? Why was she just sitting there taking it? Aubrey was going to get her out of her pathetic state if it was the last thing she did.

So she yelled at her. She yelled at her for something she didn't even have control over. Aubrey took out all of her frustrations on the brunette; frustrations because she had feelings for her, frustrations that Beca was acting this way, frustrations that she knew she was to blame for the change in Beca.

Beca just stood there and took it. She looked at Aubrey with a deep sadness in her eyes just before the first tears started to slide down her cheeks. She shook her head and spoke quietly, "I'm sorry, I just can't do this anymore." She looked at the other Bellas who had stopped everything to look at the two girls. She shook her head again, "I'm sorry."

She started towards the door and Aubrey yelled at her, "Where are you going?"

Beca sniffed as she took one last look at the Bellas, "I quit."

Everyone just stood there in shock as Beca walked out the door. Then almost as one, they turned towards Aubrey, wondering what her problem was. Aubrey looked about ready to cry, holding herself ramrod straight, her fists balled tightly at her side. She shared a look with Chloe who turned and clapped her hands, "Alright ladies, that's enough for today. Practice tomorrow at the normal time." When nobody moved, she shooed her hands at them, "Go, I've got this."

Chloe waited until everyone had packed up their things and left before turning to her best friend. Aubrey hadn't moved, she was still standing there rigidly and Chloe thought she might have seen some blood on her hands where she had dug her fingernails into her palm. She walked over to the blonde and put her hand on her shoulder. Aubrey finally broke her silence, "I think I fucked up Chlo."

Chloe chuckled, "What gave you that idea?"

Aubrey finally turned to look at her, the ghost of a smile crossing her lips, "Other than the fact that Beca quit and the rest of the Bellas hate me?"

Chloe sighed, "Well there is that."

Aubrey sighed back, "What am I going to do Chloe?"

Chloe gave her arm a pat, "Nothing right now Bree." When Aubrey gave her a panicked look, Chloe gave her a tight smile, "Anything you do right now will just make it worse. I'll take care of it for now. You just have to …" She trailed off.

Aubrey's forehead crinkled in confusion, "Have to what?"

Chloe looked away, "You have to either admit your feelings for her or get over yourself and treat her like all of the other Bellas." Aubrey started to protest but Chloe held up her hand, "No, you don't treat her like the other Bellas. It's almost like you are punishing her because you have feelings for her. If I get her to come back you will promise me that it will stop." She glared at the blonde, "I mean it Aubrey."

Aubrey sighed, "Fine, I'll treat her like everyone else."

Chloe gave a crisp nod, "Good. Now I have to go fix your mess."

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Chloe knocked firmly on Beca's door. After the third time knocking she finally heard the shuffling of feet behind the door and then Beca was there, holding onto the door handle and looking pathetically at the redhead. Beca sighed and dropped her hand from the door and shuffled back to her bed. Chloe raised an eyebrow but followed the smaller girl into the room, shutting the door behind her.

Chloe sat on the foot of the bed, looking at Beca and hiding a smile. Beca was sitting at the head of the bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them. The poor girl looked just like Aubrey when Chloe had to console her after that kiss.

Chloe put her hand on Beca's arm, "Becs, we need you to come back. Please."

Beca gave a resigned sigh, "Why should I come back? You really don't need me and Aubrey hates me. I haven't fought back and she's even worse than before."

Chloe smiled at her, "Yes, we do need you. You have the best voice in the group; well besides mine of course."

That got a small smile out of the brunette, who cheekily replied, "Of course."

Chloe ducked her head down, trying to catch the smaller girl's eyes. When Beca finally looked up at her, she continued, "And Aubrey doesn't hate you."

Beca groaned, crashing to the side against the wall, "Then why is she always yelling at me over nothing?"

Chloe sighed, "I think it's because you have her confused. She doesn't know what to think about you and that makes her lash out."

Beca looked at her with sadness in her eyes, "Well I can't take it anymore."

Chloe squeezed her hand, "I took care of that, she won't be any harder on you than the other girls. I promise."

Chloe gave her the best puppy dog eyes she could and pouted until Beca agreed to give it another shot. Beca didn't have the courage to tell her it wasn't the yelling that she couldn't take, it was Aubrey hating her that was killing her.

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Things went back to normal, kind of. Aubrey let up on Beca somewhat, treating her the same as all of the other Bellas. Beca, however, was still withdrawn, especially from Aubrey. The group started to actually come together and they placed second at the regional competition.

As they were leaving the Regionals auditorium, they came across the Tonehangers and Treblemakers arguing. The Bellas tried to sneak around the two groups until Beca thought she heard one of the Tonehangers insult Aubrey. Beca strode across the lobby at the guy with Fat Amy following close behind. Beca punched the guy in the jaw right before Fat Amy kicked him in the nuts. Beca tried to get the Treblemakers' trophy from Fat Amy before she could actually hurt the guy with it when it broke and went flying through the plate glass window. Beca was standing there looking at a police officer holding part of the broken trophy.

Beca walked back to her room and was surprised when all of the Bellas were sitting on her side of the room, even Aubrey. Beca was touched that these girls had her back. She internally chastised herself, she needed to have their backs too. So when Aubrey started on them about the Sockapellas almost beating them, Beca couldn't hold her tongue. She looked at Aubrey, "We need to shake things up and take risks."

She smiled to herself when Cynthia Rose piped in, "Yah, the Trebles never sing the same song twice."

Beca continued, "The audience and judges love the Trebles, they just tolerate us." She walked over to her desk and woke up her computer, bringing up her mixing program, "Here, let me show you some arrangements I've been working on."

Chloe walked over and stood behind her, "I didn't know you were into this."

Before anyone else could talk, Aubrey jumped in, "I have the pitch pipe and I say we focus on the set list as planned."

Beca looked over and saw the disappointment on the other Bellas' faces, so she stood up and looked hard at Aubrey, "Well if you stick with that same lame set list, we are going to get our asses kicked in the semi-finals."

Aubrey glared at the smaller girl, "Well I don't care what you think Beca, you aren't the captain of this group. I am and I say we stick to the original set list."

Beca threw up her hands, "God you are stubborn Aubrey."

Aubrey set herself and put her hands on her hips, "And you are insufferable Mitchell."

Beca turned to the other girls, "Sorry about this guys, can you just leave?"

The other Bellas got up and said their goodbyes as they filed out the door. As Aubrey turned to leave Beca grabbed her arm, "Not you Posen, we are going to finish this discussion."

Aubrey shook Beca's hand off of her arm, "Fine, but you aren't going to change my mind."

Beca waited until everyone had left before turning back to Aubrey, "Alright, what the hell Aubrey? Why won't you even listen to something besides your precious set list?"

Aubrey crossed her arms over her chest, "Because this set has worked for the previous four years and we can make it work too."

Beca took a step towards her, "It didn't work last year."

Aubrey took a step back, her cheeks flushing, "That wasn't because of the set list."

Beca took another step towards her, "Is that why you are so adamant about this set list, because the Bellas lost because of you last year?"

Aubrey took another half a step back, feeling the wall against her back, "That has nothing to do with it."

Beca looked Aubrey in the eyes. After a second, her gaze drifted to the blonde's lips as she watched her tongue flick out and wet the soft flesh. Her gaze drifted down a little further and watched Aubrey's throat move as she swallowed. Beca took another step forward as her eyes returned to Aubrey's, "I'm going to kiss you now." Aubrey looked down at the floor, then back up to Beca's eyes as the smaller girl took another step towards her, "If you're not ready, this is your last chance to leave."

Aubrey's hands pressed against the wall but other than that, she didn't move. Beca took the last half a step towards her, stopping when their feet were next to each other. Her hand reached up and she lightly stroked the backs of her fingers along Aubrey's cheek before pushing a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.

Beca leaned up and stopped an inch from Aubrey, "Do you want this?"

She heard a small whimper from the taller girl before she gave a single nod. Beca audibly sighed before closing the last inch and brushing her lips over Aubrey's.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks for all of the follows, favorites and reviews! It's nice to know that people are reading the crap that I put out there

Disclaimer: Pitch Perfect and Pitch Perfect 2 (and their characters) belong to someone that's not me. I just like playing with them.

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Beca brought her other hand up to the two girls' linked hands, nervously playing with Aubrey's fingers. She finally looked over at the blonde girl, "So are you alright with this?"

Aubrey looked at Beca then up to the ceiling, "To be honest, I don't know." She squeezed the smaller girl's hand, "But what I do know is that I've been miserable since that first kiss and I've been taking it out on you. I also know I care about you too much to keep doing that."

Beca looked down at their linked hands, speaking quietly, "I thought maybe if I didn't fight you too much that it would be easier on you."

Aubrey laughed suddenly and Beca looked at her confused, "Oh Beca, your fire is one of the things that I find so attractive about you. It hurt me so much when you wouldn't fight back because I knew that I did that to you."

Beca smirked, "You find me attractive?"

Aubrey raised her eyebrow at the brunette before pulling her into a soft kiss, "Definitely."

Beca smirked at her, "Well you're kinda hot when you go all aca-Nazi on everyone."

Aubrey's eyebrow raised higher, "Kind of?"

Now it was Beca's turn to laugh, "Ok, extremely hot." Then she pulled the blonde in for another kiss.

Aubrey moved back to her spot, back against the wall, head tipped back and looking at the ceiling, "I've never done this before."

Beca leaned against the blonde, head resting against her shoulder as she looked at the ceiling where Aubrey was staring, "Done what?"

Aubrey let her breath out slowly, almost a sigh, "Date a girl."

Beca shrugged lightly against her, figuring she knew the answer but asking anyway, "Parents?"

Aubrey sat up slowly, letting the smaller girl adjust to her movement. She looked over at Beca, "Yah, I don't think dating a girl is in their plans for me."

Now Beca did sigh, "Well, what about your plans for you?"

Aubrey shrugged, bumping the brunette off of her shoulder in the process, "I've always known what I was going to do." Beca looked pointedly at her so she amended her statement, "Ok, my parents have always told me how my life was going to unfold; be Valedictorian of my high school, graduate with a political science major, law school, marry a guy that is worthy of the Posens and make youngest partner at my law firm."

Beca gave a tight smile to the blonde, "But what do _you_ want to do?"

Aubrey sighed, "I don't really know, I guess I really do want to be a lawyer." She smirks at the brunette, "I mean I am pretty good at telling people what to do and arguing."

Beca laughs, "Yes. Yes you are good at that. Like scary good."

Aubrey laughs with Beca, "And I guess I would like to find a girl to settle down with someday. A girl that loves me for all of me."

Beca squeezes her hand, "Are you sure about that?"

Aubrey sighs, "No, but I want to at least imagine that I can be happy like that. I just don't know if I'm strong enough to go against my parents and actually do it."

Beca sighs and thinks to herself, "Dammit, this isn't going to end well." Then she turns to Aubey knowing she has to try anyway and pulls her in for a small kiss. When the two girls pull apart Beca asks, "Aubrey Posen would you like to go out with me sometime?"

Aubrey nods slightly, "Yes, I would love to go out with you Beca Mitchell."

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Life in the Bellas returned to a somewhat normal state after that night. Beca no longer sat back and took the verbal assaults of Aubrey like a timid puppy, she snarked right back at the frustrated blonde. Aubrey was still stubborn as hell whenever Beca brought up changing the set list, letting her know in no uncertain terms that the set list would change when hell froze over. Now it was only somewhat normal for the Bellas because when practice finished, their blonde leader and the tiny alt girl that were at each other's throats all practice would pack up their bags together with quiet conversation and small touches.

The two girls had been dating for two months now and tried to leave all of their major arguments about the Bellas at the Bellas' practices. But some days, like today, that was difficult to do. Beca threw her hands up in the air as she paced Aubrey's room while she got ready for their date, "Why will you not just listen to some of my mixes for the Bellas?"

Aubrey didn't even turn from looking at various outfits in her closet, "Because I'm the captain and what I say goes."

Beca stopped pacing and glared at the back of the blonde's head, "You are so infuriating some times."

Aubrey smirked as she selected a blouse, "Yes, but that's one of the things you like so much about me."

Beca growled because she knew it was true, "Fine, whatever." She started pacing again, "Is there anything I can do to get you to listen?"

Aubrey stopped mid turn, the blouse she was inspecting forgotten, "Anything?"

Beca stopped pacing again, lowering her head to look at the floor. She sighed as she knew she was going to regret this, "Yes, anything."

Aubrey set the blouse on her bed as she walked to her computer. She quickly brought up a website and smiled. She motioned for Beca to come join her at the computer. When Beca looked at the computer she shook her head rapidly, "Anything but that, please."

Aubrey looked at her like the cat that ate the canary, "Oh, not just that. You will remove all of your ear monstrosities and wear normal make-up, not all of that." She gestured to Beca's face. Aubrey continued, "Then you will take me out to a nice restaurant, of my choosing, and then we will go see a show. And by show, I mean a theater production not a movie."

Beca gulped, wondering if changing the set list was worth this. She thought about the looks on the girls' faces when they actually beat the Trebles with her set list and that made up her mind. She set her face, turning to look at the bright floral print dress starting back at her from the computer screen, "Fine, but we will actually try one of my mixes for this, not just you listening to them."

Aubrey smirked, but nodded at the smaller girl, "Deal."

Beca sighed, already regretting this, "Fine, deal."

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It turned out that Aubrey already had the tickets to Wicked for the showing the next weekend, so Beca had to work fast in finding a restaurant. After a few calls, she finally managed to get reservations at a place that was acceptable to Aubrey.

The night of the date finally arrived and Beca stood outside Aubrey's room looking uncomfortable. She had removed all of her ear piercings as requested and replaced them with a simple diamond drop earing. Well, she actually couldn't afford diamonds, so these were just nice cubic zirconia, but they still looked nice with her outfit. She had decided to leave her hair down with soft curls added, adding to her wholesome look. She tentatively knocked on the door. When Chloe opened the door and then stepped back, Beca was surprised when she saw all of the Bellas crammed on or against Aubrey's bed.

Beca lowered her head to hide her blush when Amy blurted, "Shawshank?"

She couldn't help but laugh when Cynthia Rose looked at her and then at Aubrey, "Who is this girl and what did you do with Beca?"

She raised her head and glared at the girls, "Shut it nerds, I'm still badass and don't you forget it."

Fat Amy exclaimed excitedly, "Shawshank, it is you!"

Beca gave the blonde Tasmanian a small smile, "Don't make me hurt you Amy." The blonde held up her hands in surrender.

Then Beca turned and finally saw Aubrey standing there in her little black dress. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, much to the amusement of the other Bellas. She finally got her composure together enough to speak, "Aubrey, you look amazing." She walked up to the other girl and took her hands, leaning in to give her a chaste kiss, earning her a few catcalls from the girls sitting on the other side of the room.

Aubrey held the brunette's hands and held her arms out to take a good look at her date, "You look perfect Beca." She turned her head to the side with a slightly pained look, mumbling to herself as she stepped away from the brunette, "Too bad I had to bribe you to get you to do it."

Chloe saw the hurt that flashed through Beca's eyes and shooed the Bellas out of the room, calling over her shoulder, "Have a great night you two." She barely got a nod in return as Aubrey stared at the floor and Beca looked at her with a slightly confused expression.

Beca walked up to the blonde, putting her hand on her shoulder and turning Aubrey to face her, "Aubrey, you didn't have to bribe me to do this."

Aubrey huffed a little, "But that's exactly what I did, isn't it? If you say I didn't have to bribe you to do it, then why haven't you done it before?"

Beca looked at her in surprise. She stuttered out, "Because you never asked." Aubrey looked at her in shock, while Beca continued, "I would do just about anything for you Bree, but I can't read minds. You have to let me know what you want."

Aubrey pulled the smaller girl into a hug, "You would have really done this for me if I would have asked?"

Beca nodded against her, "If it was something that you really wanted, then yes I would have done it for you."

Aubrey kissed her date deeply. When she broke the kiss she smirked at the brunette, "Ok, I'll ask for what I want from now on, starting now." She looked around the room, "Chloe is staying in Stacie's room tonight, so we'll have the place all to ourselves when we get back." She leaned in and tugged on Beca's ear before whispering in it. Beca leaned back and looked hard at the blonde standing there with a smug look on her face, the blood rushing to Beca's face as she nodded to Aubrey.

Beca played the perfect gentlewoman for the entire evening, pulling out Aubrey's chair for her at dinner, holding doors open for her and being attentive to her. Not like she wasn't like that always, but it seemed different to Aubrey tonight, almost surreal; maybe because Beca didn't look like Beca, but a softer version of her.

They got stuck in a conversation during the intermission with the people sitting next to them. They gushed about how nice it was that two friends could come and see the play together. When Aubrey slid her arm through Beca's and responded, "Oh no, this is a date," Beca turned to her with furrowed brows to which Aubrey just smiled and gave a tiny nod that most people would have missed.

Beca turned back to find the older couple looking a little uncomfortable. The wife was the first to speak, "A date?"

Beca nodded, "Yes ma'am, a date. But we don't normally admit that to people because we're usually judged poorly because of it. But my girlfriend obviously thinks that you two aren't like that."

The husband huffed, "Well your girlfriend thought wrong."

Beca gave him a sweet smile, "Oh, I'm sorry she misjudged. Our apologies then and we hope you enjoy the second act." With that she turned her back to the two and looked at Aubrey with a glint of mischief in her eyes while she could see the anger brewing in the blonde's eyes. She slowly leaned forward and brushed her lips chastely over Aubrey's cheek, "It's ok sweetie, let's just enjoy the show." Aubrey looked at Beca with a confused look until Beca ran her fingers lightly over her cheek, giving the blonde another nod, "Really, it's alright."

The two girls put the conversation during intermission behind them and really did enjoy the second act. As they walked through downtown Atlanta after the show Aubrey turned to Beca, "Why didn't you get mad at those two during intermission? I expected you to tear into them."

Beca sighed as she stopped and turned to her date, "What would that have accomplished other than ruining our evening? This wasn't about my feelings or their feelings, this was about making sure you had the perfect evening Aubrey."

Aubrey looked at her with something approaching awe, "You did all of that for me?"

Beca smiled at her, "Aubrey I told you earlier, I'd do just about anything for you."

Aubrey turned and started walking, swinging their linked hands between them, "Well then, I want my badass DJ back. This was nice and everything, but it isn't us, it isn't you. I love you just the way you are Mitchell and this was just too weird."

Aubrey didn't notice Beca had stopped until she was stopped abruptly when their arms had reached their limits. She turned to look at the brunette in confusion seeing the obvious shock on the smaller girl's face, "Beca, what is it?"

Beca shook her head slightly, "What did you just say?"

Aubrey looked just as confused as Beca and then thought back to what she had said. Her mouth suddenly formed an 'O' as her free hand came up to cover it. She started stammering, "Beca, I…Beca…Ummm.."

Beca cut her off, "What did you just say?"

Aubrey looked at the ground, repeating it softly, "I love you just the way you are."

Beca was suddenly right in front of her, her hand on her cheek forcing Aubrey to look at her. Beca stared into Aubrey's eyes as she asked, "Do you mean that?"

Beca saw only raw emotion in Aubrey's eyes as she whispered, "Yes. Yes I love you Beca."

Then Aubrey found her lips pressed against Beca's. Beca's tongue teasing along her lips before tangling with her own. When Beca finally pulled back, panting slightly, she looked into Aubrey's eyes again, "Thank God, because I love you so much Aubrey."

Beca broke the kiss only when she realized that Aubrey was crying, tasting the salt from her tears as they fell down her cheeks. She reached up and brushed the tears off of Aubrey's cheeks with her thumbs, concern lacing her voice, "Is everything ok?"

Aubrey's face lit up when she smiled and nodded, "It's perfect."

The two girls started walking towards their car again when Aubrey bumped Beca with her hip, speaking without looking at the brunette, "Remember what I whispered to you earlier?"

Beca blushed, "Yah."

Aubrey smirked, "That's so happening when we get back to the room." Beca couldn't help the smile that eased its way onto her face.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Alright, thanks for all the reads, reviews, likes and favorites. I appreciate them all! Now for some notes – we are going a little AU now (ok, a little more AU than Mitchsen already is). The introduction of mixes to the Bellas routine will happen before the semi's here but the first mixes will not be what they sing at Nationals. Lilly doesn't announce her talent at the pool scene (which happens earlier here) and Chloe's nodes aren't an issue yet (but they will be dealt with in a slightly different way in a chapter in the near future). But don't worry dear reader, the universe will align itself eventually

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2 or their characters.

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It was early Sunday afternoon and Chloe was about ready to send the two girls across the room from her into different corners for a time out. She sighed in exasperation again, trying to make it loud enough that they would hear her. But no, they were in their own world, arguing about what songs would make a good mix for the Bellas to try. Their voices had gotten progressively louder as the morning turned into afternoon. Even though the arguing was getting annoying, I mean really annoying, Chloe had to at least be a little excited about their debate though, at least Aubrey was giving Beca's mixes a try. But if they didn't stop arguing about it soon she was going to throw something at them, maybe something heavy or sharp.

Finally she got up and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her while letting out a frustrated, "Arrrrrrghh!"

Beca paused in her retort to Aubrey to look at the door. She turned to her girlfriend with a confused look, "What's her problem?"

Aubrey looked back at the brunette sitting in the chair in front of her, "I have no clue, she's been acting odd all morning."

Beca shrugged before turning back to her computer and went through another pair of songs she had already mixed. Aubrey turned to her, scoffing, "The Bellas would never sing that."

Beca sighed and threw up her hands, she was tired of arguing with her girlfriend over this. She spun around in her chair and pulled Aubrey to her until the taller girl was straddling her lap. Beca wrapped her arms around Aubrey's neck, "I know I told you I loved you, but you're pushing your luck Posen."

Aubrey leaned down and kissed her girlfriend, "Tell me about it hobbit, why can't you have decent taste in music."

Beca scoffed, "Ace of Base is not decent taste in music."

Aubrey laughed and retorted before pulling Beca into a kiss, "No it isn't, it's awesome taste in music."

Beca laughed into the kiss before returning it. When she broke away she smiled up at Aubrey, "Ok, how about a compromise. You pick one song and I'll pick the other and we can see what they sound like together."

Aubrey sat back, stretching Beca's arms to their limit. Her eyes focused on the brunette's, "Wow, I didn't think you knew how to compromise."

Beca looked offended, right before she dropped Aubrey unceremoniously off her lap, letting the taller girl drop to the floor. She laughed as the blonde let out an unladylike squeal as she dropped and then looked up at her with a pained expression that turned into a scowl. Beca held her hands up in surrender before Aubrey could even respond and then turned back around in her chair, her fingers moving over the keyboard.

Aubrey stuttered out, "You bitch," before getting back to her feet and slapping Beca's arm playfully.

Beca tipped her head back, looking backwards at her girlfriend, "Ok, what song would you like?"

Aubrey leaned down and kissed the upturned face on the lips before responding, "How about _Just the Way You_ _Are_ by Bruno Mars."

Beca smiled upside down at the blonde, "Good choice. See you do have decent taste when you try."

Aubrey reached out and flicked Beca's nose just before she brought her head back to look at her computer. Beca reached back with one hand and squeezed the back of Aubrey's thigh, making the taller girl jump slightly. Beca scrolled through her library looking for the song and loaded it into the program. She went back to scanning her library, looking for something that would work with Aubrey's choice. She wanted this to be perfect so Aubrey had no reason not to try to work it into their set. After scrolling up and down a few times, Beca finally selected her song. Her fingers worked the controls as she talked back over her shoulder, "Ok, I'm going to mix in Nelly's _Just a Dream_. Now don't judge until you hear the mix."

Aubrey felt the scowl on her face and she tried to stop it, really she did. She trusted Beca but change was hard for her and Nelly? Really? She watched Beca working, soft sounds coming from the headphones covering her ears fully while she worked. Beca turned to her, pulling one side of the headphones from her ear, "Why don't you sit, I'm going to be working for a few minutes on this one. I like it, but it's not as easy as I thought it was going to be."

Aubrey nodded at her, but didn't move. Instead she watched her girlfriend work, moving dials and using the mouse to raise and lower bars on the screen. She absently put her hands on Beca's shoulders, rubbing lightly as she watched. She didn't even realize what she was doing until she noticed Beca leaning her head to one side, enjoying the feeling of Aubrey's hands kneading her muscles. Beca finally slipped her headphones off and spun around again, being careful not to bump her knees into Aubrey. She smiled up at the blonde, "Alright, are you ready?"

Aubrey nodded, not sure what to expect. Beca turned back around and pulled her headphones from the jack and started the mix. She watched Aubrey as the music played, trying to gauge her reaction. After a few seconds, Aubrey's head started moving to the beat and then she gave a small smile before looking at Beca, her eyes opening slightly. When the song finished, Beca looked up at Aubrey expectantly, "Our version wouldn't be exactly like that because I can play more with lyrics and timing and…"

She trailed off as Aubrey's hand dropped to her shoulder, "I like it Beca. Let's see what it sounds like when the Bellas sing it."

Beca shot up out of her chair and wrapped the taller girl in a tight hug before peppering her lips with kisses. Aubrey laughed at the younger girl's enthusiasm before sliding her hands along her jaw to hold her head in place and give her a proper kiss.

When Chloe walked in a little later, she chuckled to herself and covered her eyes as Aubrey shot off the bed, pulling her shirt down and straightening it while Beca adjusted herself with a small smirk at the redhead. Chloe cried in exasperation, "My god you two, you're either at each other's throats or lady bits." Looking over at Beca's smirk she gave a playful scowl, "I can see your toner from here Mitchell."

Beca laughed as she got off of the bed and wrapped her arms around Aubrey from behind, standing on tiptoes to kiss the junction of her neck and shoulder. She looked at Chloe from over Aubrey's shoulder before telling her, "We have a new song for the Bellas to try."

Beca couldn't believe how quickly the redhead moved across the room, or how loud she squealed. Chloe took Aubrey's hands in hers, "I'm so excited and I know you won't be disappointed Bree."

Aubrey took a deep breath, pushing back the nausea that was rising when she thought of changing the Bellas' set. She gave Chloe a strained smile, "I hope not, Chloe. I want to win Nationals this year and if this can help, I'll honestly listen to it."

Chloe nodded at her best friend, "We'll win, Bree. Just you wait and see."

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Beca led the Bellas into the empty pool. She looked around with something approaching awe as they neared the deep end, the acoustics in this place were amazing. She wished they could sing here all the time. She stopped the group and looked at everyone there, crossing her fingers behind her back before starting. She sighed and hoped they were ready, she had worked with each girl on their part individually and then in groups of two or three. But this was the first time they would sing it as a group and she was nervous. To keep Aubrey from forming a premature judgement, Beca worked with her alone; although she had seen all of the music to make sure she had all of her timings right. Beca sighed as she tramped her nervousness down inside her, "Alright, are we ready to remix this bitch?"

She got nods from around the group and she smiled back at the girls. She bobbed her hand to the beat as she started with the sopranos coming in almost immediately. She looked around the group smiling as the mezos' voices joined in and then the altos with Ashley setting the beat. She let her voice trail off as she smiled at Chloe just before the redhead's angelic voice filled the pool.

Aubrey listened as Chloe started to sing; she loved to listen to Chloe sing. But so far this was just another song, there was nothing different about it, other than it was more recent than the songs in their set list. Then Beca started singing again and she heard a subtle shift in some of the supporting girls, nothing much but it was a shift that merged Beca's lyrics with Chloe's. Aubrey's eyes shot to Beca's and a small smile formed on her lips and she sang on with renewed enthusiasm.

Beca was watching Aubrey and when that smile crossed her lips, Beca almost had to stop singing because that smile was infectious. She had to restrain herself from walking up to the blonde and taking her hand as she joined in with Beca on the counterpoint lyrics. The girls started in on the beat line Beca had added for their mix and the song sounded perfect. She couldn't have been more proud of the Bellas for putting this together in such short order and making it sound this good.

Their voices trailed off and Beca looked at Aubrey expectantly. Aubrey just looked around at all of the girls, her face neutral. Then she smiled and laughed, "Hands in aca-bitches."

The girls got in a circle and when Aubrey hit three, the girls sang "Ahhhhh" in pitch and together for the first time, ever. Aubrey kept her hand linked with Beca's as the group stepped back. She looked over at her girlfriend, "Alright, we have one song for the semi-finals but I think we'll need one more. Do you think you can do it?"

Beca looked at her with an incredulous look on her face before she scoffed, "Duh, of course I can do it." Then her face softened a little before adding, "But I'd like your opinion on the songs to use."

Aubrey looked at her with a mix of confusion and happiness, "You want my help?"

Beca shrugged and then looked up into Aubrey's eyes while quietly explaining, "Well we made a pretty good team for this one and your opinion means a lot to me."

That comment earned her a round of "Awwwwww's" from the Bellas still surrounding them. The sounds of cuteness turned into catcalls as Aubrey pulled the small brunette to her and kissed her soundly in front of everyone.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Alright, I was going to do a time passes quickly and jump to the next year but I realized I said I would deal with Lily and Chloe's deep voice in a future chapter and well, doing the time jump would have made me a liar, and we wouldn't want that. So this chapter came about. It's almost like a filler chapter with very little actual Mitchsen in it –but- it does do what was promised earlier, making the universe right by bringing a beatboxing Lily and bass Chloe into their lives. It is a little short (a little over 1.5k words) but it does what it needs to. It's been going pretty smoothly for the two girls recently, but this is Aubrey and Beca – I wouldn't count on it continuing for long

I may have an update for something later tonight, but other than that I won't be updating (or doing one shots) for about a week – vacation time! Hopefully I'll have some good ideas when I get back.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2, including the characters. I mean no disrespect by playing in their universe.

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The Bellas ended up winning their Semi-finals round and advanced to Nationals. Aubrey gave everyone the weekend off and they were to report for practice on Monday. When they arrived for their first practice for Nationals, Aubrey handed everyone a sheet of paper and instructed them to put two songs on their paper. She would, along with Beca and Chloe, pick out the songs they would use for Nationals from everyone's suggestions.

After collecting the suggestions, Beca and Aubrey sat quietly at the piano looking through them to try and narrow the list down a little bit for Chloe. Meanwhile, Chloe ran the rest of the Bellas through some vocal exercises. Chloe's voice sounded a little scratchy at the beginning of practice, but everyone just brushed it off as being a little tired after the Semi's performance. By the end of the first hour, Chloe voice was pretty much gone, emitting nothing more than a scratchy squeak.

Aubrey walked up to the redhead, the worry evident on her face, "Are you ok Chlo?"

The normally bubbly co-captain looked terrified as she shook her head. Aubrey took in the look and then turned to look at Beca, a panicked look starting to form. Aubrey just stood there, frozen. Chloe always took care of her, she never needed to be taken care of. Beca walked up to the two captains, putting one hand on each of the girls' arms. She cleared her voice to get everyone's attention and then called practice for the day. When everyone else was gone she turned to Chloe, "Ok, let's get you to a doctor, shall we."

Chloe nodded at her and Aubrey whispered, "Thank you Beca, I just panicked. I've never seen her like this." Then she looked at her girlfriend with a smirk, "Shall we?"

Beca scowled at her, "Shut it Posen, I can't help it I use proper English when I get worried."

A couple hours later, they found themselves sitting in Chloe's hospital room waiting for them to take her to surgery. The E.R. doctor had done a cursory examination before calling in the Ears, Nose and Throat (E.N.T.) specialist. After giving Chloe a more thorough examination, she had admitted Chloe for immediate surgery. Chloe's nodes had become aggravated and the swelling was threatening to close her trachea, so they offending nodes needed to be removed.

Beca was holding one hand while Aubrey held the other as the nurse while the nurse administered the anesthetic, only letting go when the nurse forced them to so she could take Chloe down to surgery. Beca sat there for the three hours that Chloe was gone, holding Aubrey tightly on her lap, her fingers running slowly through the blonde's hair, keeping her calm.

When they rolled Chloe back into the room, Aubrey went to stand over her, holding her hand gently. Beca moved behind her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around the taller girl's waist. Aubrey spoke quietly, "She looks so small like this."

Beca laughed, "It's Chloe, Bree. Next to you she looks small all the time. Hell, I'm the only one that makes her look big."

Aubrey gave a strained smile, "I know, but what would have happened if her nodes had totally cut off her trachea? What if we had lost her?" She finished with tears slowly trailing down her cheeks.

Beca turned her around, cupping her cheeks and brushing her tears away with her thumbs, "We didn't lose her Bree, we caught everything in time and she's going to be singing with us again in no time. Just wait and see."

Aubrey pulled the smaller girl into a hug, "Thanks Beca, and thank you for staying here with me."

Beca leaned up and gave Aubrey a quick kiss, "I was worried about you, there was no way I was leaving you all alone." Aubrey leaned down and gave her a slightly deeper kiss. As she broke the kiss, she moved up and brushed a light kiss over Beca's nose before turning around and taking Chloe's hand again.

Chloe woke up not long after. She was a little confused as she came out of the effects of the anesthesia but she seemed fairly coherent after another half hour. She wasn't supposed to use her voice for at least a week, if not two, if she wanted to be able to sing in time for Nationals, so she used a dry erase board to communicate with the two girls in her room.

Over the next few days, the three girls went through the list of suggested songs and narrowed it down to six they thought would work. They were arguing over the six songs, trying to narrow the list down two more, and Beca scowled at Chloe, "Just because you're a cripple doesn't mean you get a free pass to keep chucking those dry erase markers at me Beale." Finally Beca just threw up her hands, "You guys are unbelievable! Fine, let me look at something with all six of the songs. Maybe," she looked between the two girls, "just maybe I can come up with something that will work."

Chloe gave her the patented Beale smile and clapped her hands in front of her. Aubrey just leaned over and kissed her cheek, whispering in her ear, "Thank you."

It took her two full weeks, but she did it. Beca came up with an arrangement that mixed all six of the songs into one coherent number. She brought her laptop to Aubrey's room, hoping to catch both captains there. She got lucky, both captains were there and excited when Beca told them about finishing the mix. As she set up her computer with Aubrey's speakers, the two captains got comfortable on Aubrey's bed. Beca hit play and then stood back to watch the other girls' reactions.

The song finished and Beca turned back to the two girls after hitting stop on her computer. Chloe's smile had gotten bigger and bigger as the song played and as Beca turned back, she was clapping her hands in front of her. Beca looked at her sternly, pointing at her, "No squealing Beale. It's bad for your throat."

Chloe looked at Beca like a kicked puppy before smiling brightly again. She just gave the DJ two thumbs up. Then she looked over at her girlfriend. Aubrey had been deep in thought the entire song, sometimes a ghost of a smile would appear and other, that adorable little frown she had.

Aubrey turned to Beca, "Honestly, I don't know." She slid off the bed and put her hand on Beca's arm, "I know you worked hard on this baby, but…but something is just missing."

Beca sighed and moved her arm, sliding Aubrey's hand along it until their fingers linked. She looked hard at the blonde, "I know and I know what it is. Everyone else has a beatboxer and we just don't." She squeezed Aubrey's hand, "That's why your set lists always worked for the Bellas, they didn't need one."

Beca shook herself, "But I still want to show this to the girls so they know I at least tried and maybe run through it a couple of times. Just to see how we sound doing it."

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The girls sat and listened to the mix Beca had come up with and thought it was pretty good. When it finished, Beca gave the girls a sad smile, "I know we said we were going to try this for Nationals, but it just won't work. It's missing something that we don't have." She watched the looks of disappointment pass over the girls' faces when Lily stood up, "I think I have something that could help us out."

Everyone looked startled at the normal tone of the usually quiet Asian. Fat Amy was the first to break the stunned silence, "Excuse me bitch, you don't need to shout."

Lily turned back to Beca and Aubrey and started to drop a beat. She proceeded to show them that she had some serious beatboxing skills and had the entire group laughing and shouting by the time she was finished. Beca and Aubrey shared a look when Lily finished and they smiled. Aubrey nodded to Beca, who returned her nod; they had their song for Nationals.

Aubrey called for the girls to put their hands in. When everyone was in a circle, Aubrey counted, "One…Two…"

The Bellas finished with their pitch perfect note, with one notable exception. Well, it _was_ pitch perfect, but not in the octave that everyone was used to hearing from their redheaded captain. When the note came out of her, Chloe pulled back in shock, her hands covering her mouth. As usual Fat Amy was the first to comment, "What was that?"

Chloe looked around the group, a shocked look in her eyes, "I don't know, I've never made that sound before."

Cynthia Rose made the most logical conclusion, "Yo, with your messed up vocal chords you can hit the bass notes now."

Beca looked at her group of awesome nerds and smiled. This group had wormed their way into her heart and while she had fought it kicking and screaming, she wouldn't have it any other way. Her hand drifted down to her side, linking fingers with her girlfriend and smiling at her, "I think this will work now." Aubrey smiled back and nodded before looking proudly at the group of girls standing around them.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Alright avid readers, here is my last update before my break and it's all Mitchsen (unlike the last chapter) … oh, and there's a little bit of angst to leave you with before I take off for vacation (someone had to go and ask for more drama). You can thank me for it when I get back early next week (or sooner if you want)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect or Pitch Perfect 2, nor do I intend any offense.

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The rest of the year and summer went by quickly. Aubrey redeemed herself when the Bellas won the National Acapella Championship and then both Beca and Aubrey spent the summer in paid internships; Beca at a radio station and Aubrey at a local law firm. The idea of the two of them getting an apartment together was batted around a few times, but it was finally decided that they would wait for a bit before taking that step. Instead, Aubrey and Chloe moved into a place just off of the Barden campus.

The Fall term started with Beca continuing towards her degrees in Music and Business while Aubrey started her first year of Law School at Barden. Beca replaced Aubrey as co-captain of the Bellas with Chloe, who somehow managed to fail Russian Literature so she couldn't graduate. The two girls easily fell into a routine.

Beca spent nearly every evening with Aubrey at her apartment. She was beginning to think that maybe she should have moved in with her girlfriend, but there was still this little knot of uneasiness in the pit of her stomach when she thought of it. She didn't know why it was there, only that it was there and following her instincts had worked for her in the past. Little did she know that ball of unease was going to rear its ugly head in the not so distant future.

On most days, Chloe didn't know why she agreed to room with Aubrey again. I mean, for all the time Beca spent there, she should have been the one living with Aubrey. Chloe sighed as she thought about her two best friends. The two girls had two extremes of behavior, at each other's throats or sickeningly sweet. Chloe knew how strong willed and opinionated both girls were, so it came as no surprise that the two girls had epic fights when they truly disagreed about something. At least Chloe had to admit that it never seemed like the two girls were every really angry with one another, and if one did get mad, the other quickly worked to make things better.

What did surprise her was the softer side the two girls showed towards each other, particularly in the privacy of the apartment. The two girls were extremely affectionate towards one another, holding hands, caresses as they passed by, soft kisses. Beca would rub Aubrey's feet while she read her Law books or bring her food while she studied. One time Beca even did Aubrey's cleaning and laundry so she didn't have to take a break from studying for a particularly important exam, I mean the Big BM cleaning! Aubrey would listen to Beca vent about Bellas practices and then rub her shoulders while she gave the smaller girl suggestions. It wasn't uncommon for Chloe to find the two of them in Aubrey's room, Beca sitting at Aubrey's desk with one headphone covering an ear while she worked on a mix, her arm extended so that her fingers were linked with Aubrey's, who was sitting on the bed reading a book.

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Beca and Aubrey moved around the kitchen smoothly as the prepared dinner together. Instead of going out to someplace fancy for their one year anniversary, they decided to stay in and cook with each other, something they had come to enjoy over the past few months. Their dance around the kitchen was something that they had become accustomed to, with small touches, fingertips grazing over a hip or shoulder, and much to the chagrin of Aubrey, occasionally over her ass. There were small kisses and friendly 'additions' with one partner either helping by adding more of a particular spice, or leaning around the other to steal a piece of whatever they were chopping.

Beca sighed as she watched Aubrey chopping fresh parsley, she could get used to this. Hell, she was used to it and she wanted it to last forever. That's when that feeling in the pit of her stomach resurfaced as it did every time she thought about her future with the blonde she loved. Aubrey looked back over her shoulder at the brunette and Beca smiled back, ignoring the feeling.

The two sat and enjoyed their dinner, catching up on their week and Beca complaining about the lack of focus in the Bellas. Aubrey gave her a little smirk, "Now you know what I had to deal with."

Beca whined, "Yah, but you made it look so easy."

Aubrey reached out and took ahold of her hand, "Why do you think I was so hard on you?"

Beca smirked at her, pulling her hand back quickly, "But I don't want to be an aca-Nazi."

Aubrey gave a play glare at her before leaning up over the table to meet Beca half way, kissing her softly. She gave the other girl a smile as she sat back down, "Don't worry hobbit, you could never be this good."

The two girls finished their meal in easy conversation. When they were done, they moved into an easy dance around the kitchen again as they cleaned up after their meal, putting the leftovers away and doing the dishes.

After everything was cleaned up and put away, they moved to the couch. Aubrey leaned back against Beca, the brunette running her fingers lazily through the blonde's hair. After sitting in silence for a couple of minutes, Aubrey sat up and pulled Beca's hand into her lap, holding it gently while her thumb stroked lazy patterns over the back of it. She looked into Beca's eyes, "Ok baby, what is it?

Beca gave her a strained smile, "It's nothing Bree, it will wait until tomorrow."

Aubrey squeezed her hand, "It's not nothing Becs, now talk to me."

Beca gave a small sigh and reached out and pushed back a stray hair from Aubrey's face, "I didn't want to ruin our anniversary with this, I know it's just me being stupid."

Aubrey captured the smaller girl's hand and kissed her palm, "If it's bothering you, then you aren't being stupid. The only stupid thing is ignoring it and hoping it will go away."

Beca visibly deflated, "Fine, but remember this wasn't my idea to talk about it today." Aubrey nodded, not looking forward to the talk but knowing that her girlfriend needed to get it out of her system.

Beca gazed over Aubrey's shoulder, starting out into space, "When we were cooking dinner tonight, I stepped back and just watched you." She brought her eyes back into focus and gave Aubrey a loving smile, "I watched you and thought to myself, 'I can see us still doing this in twenty years.' I see a future with you Aubrey, a real future where we are happy together."

Aubrey tightened her grip on Beca's hand, a panicked look coming over her face. Beca quickly dropped her other hand onto their linked hands, squeezing Aubrey's hand, "Oh, no, no, no Bree. I'm not asking you to marry me or anything." When Beca admitted that, Aubrey visibly relaxed and her grip loosened on Beca's hand. Beca continued, "But what just happened worries me Bree."

Aubrey looked confused, "What do you mean Beca?"

Beca tried to smile, "I can envision a future with you, with us, in it. I love you Bree and want to spend my life with you. But when I brought it up just now, you panicked."

Aubrey tried to make an excuse, "Well you just caught me by surprise."

Beca squeezed her hand, "Bree, we both know that isn't it and all of this isn't being helped because of my history. I have a hard time letting people get close because I'm afraid they are going to leave me, like my Dad did, so I always expect the worst."

Aubrey squeezed her hand again, reaching out to brush her thumb over the smaller girl's cheek, "I would never leave you like your Dad did Beca."

Beca gave her a weak smile, "I know you would never cheat on me like he did on my Mom, but you could leave me."

Aubrey didn't know what to say, so she just sat there waiting for Beca to continue while a tear slowly slid down her cheek. Beca took a deep breath in, "Do you see me in your future Bree? Do you see the possibility of us? Or do you still see yourself with the perfect guy for you, the perfect guy for your parents?"

Aubrey started to say something, then stopped. She couldn't lie to Beca, "I don't know Beca. I'm so sorry but I can't answer that." She looked up to see tears streaming down Beca's face as she just looked at Aubrey.

Beca took a shaky breath, "Well I don't think we should continue to see each other if you don't see a future for us. It's not fair to either of us to keep our relationship going if it's not going to go anywhere."

Aubrey started to hyperventilate, her stomach started rumbling. Beca pulled her into a hug, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried to calm the other girl before continuing, "Breathe Bree, just breathe. I'm not breaking up with you but I want us to take a break from each other for a week. Seven days to think about what you want. Can you see a future with us in it or does your future still hold that perfect guy? I hope to God you see me in your future because I don't know if I can give you up."

Aubrey sobbed onto Beca's shoulder as the smaller girl whispered in her ear, "I love you Aubrey Posen and I'm not going anywhere unless you tell me to go. I'll be right here in a week if you still want me."

Beca disengaged herself from the blonde, standing up but still maintaining her grip on the other girl's hand. She started backing towards the door, her grip tightening on Aubrey's hand until she couldn't back up anymore without breaking contact with her girlfriend, if she could still call her that. She tipped her head to the side and gave Aubrey a weak smile, "Aubrey Posen I love you and all I want is for you to be happy, even if that isn't with me. Think about what would make you happy, please. I'll come back in a week and we'll talk, that is if you even want to see me again."

Beca finally let go of Aubrey's hand and turned towards the door. She paused with her hand on the doorknob, turning to look back over her shoulder at the blonde sobbing on the couch. Her resolve almost crumbled when she saw how broken the indomitable Aubrey Posen looked, but she twisted the knob and stepped out of the apartment. The door shutting behind her had a sound of finality to it and she swallowed hard before letting the tears fall freely down her face.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: So, I'm back (if you hadn't noticed). Here's a little bit longer chapter to make up for that cliffhanger (sorry, not sorry).

Disclaimer: I don't own Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2 or any of their characters. I mean no disrespect by playing in their universe.

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Aubrey sat and stared at the door after Beca left. This couldn't be happening. Beca didn't just leave her on their anniversary. She was going to come back through that door any second now and let her know she was just kidding. After fifteen minutes of waiting, Aubrey knew that Beca wasn't going to come back through the door. Hell, she knew immediately that the brunette meant what she said and wouldn't be back until the week was up, but some small part of her mind refused to believe it and so she sat, hoping. Eventually, Aubrey pulled her knees up to her chest and cried. She cried because she let her girlfriend walk out the door without a fight. She cried because she had hurt Beca by not being able to answer her. She cried because there was still a part of her that clung to her parents' expectations for her. She cried because for once, she didn't know what she was going to do.

Chloe found Aubrey curled up on the couch when she got home the next morning. She sat looking down over the back of the couch, thinking that Aubrey looked so cute when she slept and then she noticed the streaks of black running down her cheeks. She quietly went back to Aubrey's room and peeked in, her heart suddenly constricting when she saw the bed sitting there empty, still made. She walked slowly to the kitchen, hoping to find Beca sitting at the table drinking coffee; but who was she kidding, there was no way Beca would be up voluntarily at this hour. Seeing the empty kitchen, Chloe quietly went about making a pot of coffee, knowing that both she and Aubrey were going to need it.

When the coffee was ready she came back out to the living room to find Aubrey already sitting in the corner of the couch, her knees pulled up to her chest and fresh tears slowly falling down her cheeks. Aubrey looked up at Chloe as she walked to the couch, "She left me Chlo."

Chloe quickly put the cups down on the coffee table and sat next to Aubrey, pulling her into a hug, "Shhhh, it's ok Bree. She'll be back. Shhhh, she loves you so much she'll see how much you mean to her and she'll come back. Tell me what happened."

Aubrey tightened her grip on the redhead as she tried to soothe her, crying harder against her shoulder, "She left because of me Chlo, because I couldn't tell her that I could see us together in twenty years. So she's giving me a week to think about what I want in my future, her or the perfect guy, and then she'll come back and we'll talk."

Chloe just sat there, fingers idly stroking through blonde hair as she absorbed that information. Finally, she spoke, "Why don't you see yourself with her in twenty years Aubrey?"

Aubrey took a steadying breath, quietly responding, "I do see us together in twenty years. I see us having kids together. I see us having a _life_ together."

Chloe's hand stopped moving through Aubrey's hair, "Then what's the problem? Why didn't you tell her that?"

Aubrey sighed against the redhead's side, "Because I still see visions of having the perfect wedding with Daddy walking me down the aisle and marrying the perfect guy. I couldn't lie to her Chloe, I couldn't tell her I didn't still dream of that."

After a few more moments, Aubrey quietly spoke again, "I'm scared that I want her so much."

Chloe just held the blonde, resting her head against the top of Aubrey's head. Finally she kissed the top of Aubrey's head as she thought to herself, "She better pull her head out of her ass soon before she loses the one person she truly loves in this world."

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Chloe woke the next morning to the sound of Aubrey moving noisily around the apartment. She groggily walked into the living room to find Aubrey vacuuming the couch cushions. Chloe tapped her on the shoulder and when she turned around Chloe asked "What are you doing? It's only eight in the morning and I should still be sleeping."

Aubrey gave an exasperated sigh, like what she was doing should be obvious, "Well I need to make sure the place is clean for Beca when she comes by later. I don't want her thinking that I stopped my routine just because of what happened on Friday."

Chloe perked up a little at that, "Did you talk to her? When is she coming?" To be honest, Chloe was a little worried about the brunette; she hadn't returned any of her texts or answered her phone at all the day before.

Aubrey looked at her like she was intentionally being obtuse, "No I didn't talk to her and I don't know when she's coming." Chloe gave her a quizzical look, so she continued, "I just know she's going to come back today. There's no way she would really leave for a week."

Chloe looked sadly at Aubrey knowing that she was in denial. Beca wasn't going to come walking through the door at any moment and both she and Aubrey knew it. Chloe just put her hand on Aubrey's arm, "Well why don't you keep cleaning then; but don't get your hopes up too much. This is Beca we are talking about, she is a bit stubborn. She might wait until tomorrow." Chloe didn't like lying to her best friend, but she couldn't bring herself to break her heart right now.

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Chloe came home from class on Monday afternoon to the sound of a drawer being slammed shut in the kitchen. She walked in to hear Aubrey muttering under her breath, "Who does she think she is?"

Chloe asked, "Who is?" The sound of Chloe's voice startled Aubrey, causing her to jump and spin around.

After she had regained her composure, she growled out the name, "Beca. How dare she ask me that question and then leave. How would she know that I don't think about her like that? I didn't deserve to be walked out on, she knows I love her."

Chloe watched the blonde moving around the kitchen, slamming cupboards and drawers as she looked for something. Aubrey finally turned to her, "I mean, I've been a pretty good girlfriend, haven't I? She had no right to leave me like that!"

Chloe finally walked up to her and stopped her with a hand on her arm, "Have you told your parents about Beca?"

Aubrey froze at the question, "No, it has never come up."

Chloe looked into the blonde's eyes, "When are you going to tell your parents about Beca?"

Aubrey answered reflexively, "I don't know if I'm going to."

Chloe just sat there looking at Aubrey, letting what she had said sink in. A look of realization came over Aubrey's face and then her hand came up to her mouth as it finally sank in. When Chloe was sure that Aubrey realized what she had said she finally responded, "I think that's why Beca left."

Aubrey started to panic, her breaths coming faster and faster, "Oh my God Chloe, what am I going to do?"

Chloe gave her a strained smile, "First, you are going to breath." She started breathing in big, slow breaths, waiting for Aubrey to match her. When she had the blonde more in control she took both of her hands, "Now you are going to do what Beca told you to, you are going to think about what you want. Are you ready to tell your parents about you and Beca? Will you ever be ready?" Aubrey started to look panicked again but Chloe continued, "Beca's right Aubrey, if you can't admit your relationship to your parents, it's not fair to her to keep stringing her along and letting her think there is a future for you two."

Aubrey angrily brushed the tears from her eyes, cursing Beca internally for making her cry more in the last three days than she had in her entire life. The nagging part of her brain thought that there might be something to that, but she pushed it aside for the moment. She gave Chloe a small glare, "I am not stringing her along."

Chloe tipped her head to the side and gave her an 'are you kidding me' look, "And what would you call it? If you are still looking for that 'perfect guy' but still dating her, isn't that stringing her along? She's just a placeholder until someone better comes along. How would you feel if she did that to you?"

Aubrey stomped her foot, "It isn't like that Chloe!"

Chloe finally started to get mad with her roommate, "It isn't? Didn't you tell me the other day that you couldn't honestly deny you weren't waiting for the 'perfect guy' to come along for your perfect wedding and just now, didn't you say you didn't know if you were going to tell your parents about her? That's what stringing along means Bree. You know I love you, but get your head out of your ass, it's not a hat."

Aubrey looked at the redhead, stunned. She opened her mouth and then closed it. Chloe just stood there glaring at her, daring her to say something stupid. Aubrey finally let her shoulders sag dejectedly, "You're right Chloe, I need to figure out what I want."

Chloe gave a small smile, nudging the taller girl with her shoulder, "What was that Bree, I didn't hear you."

Aubrey gave the redhead a weak smile, "Oh no Beale, that only comes out of my mouth once."

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Aubrey spent the evening thinking about her life and what she really wanted in it. She really did love Beca but she somehow couldn't get past the hurdle of her parents, or more specifically her Dad. She knew he would be disappointed, maybe even angry, if she stayed with Beca. Disowning was certainly an option when it came to her father. She sent Beca a text, wanting to know her opinion about it. After she sent the text, she laughed bitterly when she realized what she had done.

She went to bed that night thinking of Beca and their future, if they even had a future. The next morning she woke and absently sent a 'good morning' text to Beca. She was hoping to hear something, anything, back from the little brunette that had wormed her way into Aubrey's life. After showering and having her breakfast she sent an 'I love you' text. After her first class it was an 'I miss you' text. She had dinner with Chloe, but it wasn't the same without the acerbic wit of her girlfriend. She missed hearing about Beca's day and she missed the understanding gestures that Beca always provided when something was bothering her. So she sat down after dinner and sent Beca a longer text.

 _ **MyAcaNazi**_ : _I miss you Becs. Dinner wasn't the same without you here tonight. I know I still have three more days left but I don't know if I can make it that long without seeing you. There was a hole where you were supposed to be and I don't know how to fill it. Tell me what I'm supposed to do. I love you so much but I'm so scared._

She worked on one of the papers that was due next week and actually made pretty decent progress on it. When she found a good stopping point, she put her bookmarks in place, closed her laptop and went to the bathroom to do her normal nightly routine. She sighed, missing the fact that she didn't have to slide to the side every thirty seconds to move around an energy filled brunette. Then she chuckled to herself, who would have thought she would be complaining about having the bathroom to herself. When she got into bed, she grabbed her phone and sent off another text.

 _ **MyAcaNazi**_ : _Getting ready for bed was an eye opening experience for me. I never would have believed it if someone would have told me last year that I would complain about having a bathroom all to myself. It wasn't the same without having to move around you to see the mirror. It was lonely not feeling you brush up against me while we got ready for bed, the bathroom may be small and cramped, but I get to be close to you the entire time we're in there. Then there's the bed. I used to revel in all of the space my queen sized bed gave me. I could sleep wherever and however I wanted on it. Now it's just too big. There's too much room in it. I move expecting to bump into your warm body and all I find is empty space. I don't like it Beca._

Aubrey woke up the next morning and grabbed her phone. She looked at an empty screen and her heart fell. She was really hoping that Beca would respond to her texts from yesterday. She sighed, whether or not Beca responded she felt better after sending those texts. They helped her clarify and express her feelings. Even if Beca never read them, Aubrey knew she needed to keep sending them. So she started her morning with a quick text.

 _ **MyAcaNazi**_ : _Morning really sucks without you here. I miss how warm you are in the morning, my own personal little furnace. You are so cute when I get you up, laying there trying to get five more minutes of sleep. Yes, I know you aren't cute, you're badass. But to me you'll always be cute (and sexy). I miss waking up in the morning with your leg wrapped over mine and how your ankle curves around my leg perfectly. I feel so safe and loved waking up with you holding me._

The day continued with Aubrey sending texts periodically throughout the day.

 _ **MyAcaNazi**_ : _Nobody understands me like you do. Brian from my study group was being a douche today and I tried to vent to Chloe and she just looked at me like I was crazy. I was so stressed out about the whole thing that I thought I was going to stress vomit. The only way I got through it was by thinking of you telling me what to do to get through it. I sat there and pictured you telling me to 'breathe' and you taking slow deep breaths. I got through it, barely. You keep me grounded Beca and I miss that, so so much._

 _ **MyAcaNazi**_ : _We had pizza for dinner and I ordered you half of a Canadian bacon and pineapple pizza out of habit. So if you're hungry, there's pizza here for you._

That evening Aubrey sat and thought about her future. She was ahead in all of her classes so she didn't have to stress out about taking the evening off. She owed it to herself and Beca to think this through thoroughly. First, did she see a future with Beca. She smiled to herself as she thought about coming home to Beca. She wondered what their kids would look like. Who would they get to be a donor? Someone they knew or some random guy? Maybe by the time they were ready for kids scientist will have found a way to fuse two eggs, that would be nice. Aubrey's smile was so big it hurt her cheeks by the time she came back to herself. She shook her head lightly, well at least she knew that she could see a future with Beca.

She frowned to herself. Ok, so she could see a future with Beca so what was the problem? Her mind drifted to her at her parents' house, telling them about getting engaged to Beca. She saw one of two extremes in possibilities. The first made her smile, her mom and dad giving both girls a hug and her dad shaking Beca's hand and welcoming her to the family. The second was where the problem lie, her dad pointing at the door and telling her to get out, no daughter of his was going to date, much less get married to another girl.

Aubrey shook herself out of her thoughts. She didn't know what to do, so she did what she'd been doing for the last two days, sent Beca a text.

 _ **MyAcaNazi:**_ _I'm scared of losing you, but I'm just as scared of losing my parents. I may have to choose one of you over the other and I don't know if I can do that. I want you both in my life so badly. I love you so much Beca, I don't want some 'perfect guy' in my life, I want you. But I don't know if I can give up my family for you. I know it doesn't make things any better moving my insecurities from a guy to my family, but just know that I can't see anyone else in my future but you._

Aubrey fell asleep with her phone beside her head, waiting for a text that she knew would probably never come. When she woke in the morning, she had to send a text out right away.

 _ **MyAcaNazi:**_ _So, you were obviously on my mind last night, so much so that I dreamed of you all night. Get your mind out of the gutter hobbit, not those kinds of dreams. I dreamt of holidays at my parents place. I was older and sat on the couch and snapped at my brothers' kids, I didn't want to help my mother with anything and my dad and I sat and bickered all afternoon. I was miserable even though I was with my family. It took me a little bit to realize why I was miserable; you were missing. I was completely and utterly miserable without you, even with my family surrounding me. You know I don't normally put stock in dreams, but this was so real that I still felt empty when I woke up. I still feel empty now and I know it was just a dream. But it isn't just a dream; I may have lost the only woman, the only person, that I've ever loved and it's all because I was too stupid to realize what was right there in front of me._

Now that she had made up her mind about what she needed to do, she was scared that Beca wouldn't want her any more. She was afraid that Beca was tired of waiting for her to decide what she wanted out of life and that she wasn't worth the effort. She went to her classes, but she felt nauseous all day. When she got home, she tried talking with Chloe but it wasn't making her any better. Chloe's reassurances that Beca would still love her and want to be with her sounded like empty platitudes that fell on deaf ears and only served to make Aubrey's nausea worse. Aubrey finally found her escape in the form of texting the woman that she loved from her lonely bed.

 _ **MyAcaNazi:**_ _I know I'm supposed to see you tomorrow night, but that still seems so far away. I miss you so much Beca that it hurts. I've been nauseous all afternoon because I can't help thinking that my stupidity may have cost me you. I've been trying to think of why you would want to stay with me after everything I've put you through. I can't imagine what it's been like for you; knowing that your girlfriend is thinking about getting married to someone else. When I think of you marrying anyone but me, my heart breaks and my stomach drops. I'm so so very sorry for ever making you doubt how much I love you._

Aubrey woke in the morning, nervous butterflies in her stomach. She had endured the seven days Beca had imposed on her but it hadn't been easy. At least now she understood why the short brunette had done it and Aubrey hoped that they would come out of this stronger than ever. She actually just hoped they came out of this together, that's all she really wanted.

 _ **MyAcaNazi:**_ _I know I will see you in a few hours but I'm really nervous about it. I'm scared you won't want me anymore. I'm scared you'll only see the frightened girl who didn't want to risk her parents' disappointment rather than going after what she wanted. I'm scared you'll see the girl who gets sick when she can't control everything around her. I'm scared you will have taken this week to figure out your life is better off without me in it. I'm scared I waited too long to realize that you make my life so much better by being in it. I'm scared I waited too long to realize that the only thing that really makes me happy in this world is you. I'm scared._

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Aubrey paced the room nervously. Beca had texted her about an hour ago that she would be there at 5 p.m. It was now 5:15 p.m. and Beca wasn't there yet. Maybe Beca did decide that she was better off without her. No, Beca said she would be there so she would be there. Maybe something happened to her. Maybe she was in a car accident. Oh my God, what if she was in an accident and Aubrey never got to tell her how she really felt. Luckily there was a knock on the door before Aubrey could worry herself sick.

Aubrey walked quickly to the door and then hesitated with her hand inches from the doorknob. She pulled her hand back and straightened out her skirt one last time before letting out a slow breath and turning the doorknob. Her heart stopped when she saw Beca, her Beca, standing there with tears streaming down her face. Suddenly she was in Beca's arms and feeling the soft press of her Beca's lips against her own. Beca's hands slid up to hold her head as the kisses got more desperate. Aubrey felt herself being guided back into the apartment and pressed against the wall as Beca's foot came out to shut the door behind them. Aubrey tasted the salt of Beca's tears as she kissed the brunette back as passionately as she was being kissed.

After a few minutes, Beca broke the kiss and leaned her forehead against Aubrey's chin. She softly started, "I stopped reading your text messages after about the third one because I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it seven days if I continued to read them. But when I pulled up outside I decided that I needed to know what you sent me so I read your texts, all of them."

Beca leaned up and took Aubrey's lips with hers again before continuing, "I love you so much Aubrey Posen. I never see a scared girl, I see a woman who can take on anything, and if you ever do get scared, know that I'm right there beside you. I see a woman who makes me stronger. I see a woman who makes me a better person just by loving me. I only know one thing, my life is only better when you are in it. I've been so worried all week that you wouldn't choose to be with me and that my life would be empty."

Aubrey leaned down and brushed Beca's lips with her own, her tears mingling with Beca's, "Oh love, you don't have to worry; I'm not going anywhere."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Alright, finally got something down for one of the chapter fics that aren't finished yet. I'm sorry about the delay. Not Beta'd and didn't go through as rigorous proofing as normal so I could get it out quicker, so sorry about any major mistakes.

Potential trigger warning – mild homophobia around the middle-ish of the chapter but work through it…trust me

Disclaimer: Don't own anything Pitch Perfect and don't mean to offend anyone by playing in their 'verse.

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Beca pulled the blanket up over Aubrey when she felt her shiver slightly. Then she sighed as she pulled the naked blonde tighter against her. Aubrey's fingers lightly traced nonsense symbols over her bare stomach, her head resting against Beca's chest. Beca kissed the top of her head, "I should go pick up our clothes before Chloe gets home."

Aubrey wiggled tighter against the brunette, "Uh-uh, I just got you back after seven days. I'm not letting go of you."

Beca looked at the door, "But Bree, I think you dropped my bra in the middle of the living room."

Aubrey smirked as she looked up at Beca, "Yes and I know you threw my bra somewhere over the couch." Beca smiled as she remembered that and Aubrey continued, "It's not like Chloe hasn't seen your unmentionables before."

Beca blushed a little as she looked down, "I know, but they weren't thrown all over the room."

Aubrey was having fun with this, "You do know that she knows we have sex, right. In fact, she's heard us on multiple occasions, you can be quite loud."

Beca's blush deepened, "Well if she heard anyone, it's you Posen." She leaned down and kissed the blonde snuggled up against her, "But I do love how you scream my name."

Aubrey pinched Beca's side with that comment and Beca squealed and jumped out of bed glaring at her girlfriend, "That was just rude. Since I'm up though, I'll just go grab everything quickly." Beca saw the look of panic that flashed across Aubrey's eyes so she leaned down and brushed a kiss across her lips before letting her know that she was not going anywhere, "Don't worry baby, I'm not leaving you every again. You are stuck with me." This seemed to appease her girlfriend as a smile slipped easily onto her face with the words.

Beca ran out of the room naked and quickly picked up their discarded clothes. She swore under her breath as she searched the room for her panties, not seeing them anywhere near the other clothes that had been quickly discarded soon after her arrival. She finally found them tucked against the wall as she turned around to head back to the bedroom. She stooped to pick them up and heard a key in the lock. She swore under her breath as she quickly grabbed them before sprinting back to Aubrey's bedroom. She slammed the door behind her as she dropped the clothes unceremoniously on the floor before hopping over Aubrey and pulling the covers up to her neck.

Aubrey looked at her quizzically until the door to her room opened and Chloe came barging in, "How did things go with Bec….a?" Chloe took in the sight of Beca looking petrified and Aubrey smirking at her before she backed slowly out of the room with a huge smile on her face, closing the door as she entered the hallway. She stood outside the door, "So, I take it you two finally figured your shit out?"

Beca rolled her eyes at Aubrey, who just leaned over and kissed her before replying to her roommate, "Yes, we figured our shit out Beale." She grabbed Beca's hand under the covers, "There's only one person who I can see making me happy in the future and she's right her next to me."

Chloe mumbled under her breath, "It's about time," before speaking louder through the door, "I'm so happy for you two."

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Beca pouted at Aubrey, "But baby, I won't get to see you for an entire week. Why can't we do something together?"

Aubrey raised her eyebrow at the small brunette, "That isn't doing anything for your badass image baby."

Beca glared at Aubrey before rushing at her and wrapping her arms around the laughing blonde, "I'm badass and you know it."

Aubrey leaned down and kissed her girlfriend to try and placate her, "Yes, you're _my_ badass."

Beca gruffed out, 'Damn straight." She then remembered what this is about, "So why do you have to go home for spring break? Why can't we spend it together?"

Aubrey sighed and took Beca's hand leading her to the couch. She motioned for the smaller girl to sit and when she did, Aubrey sat next to her and took Beca's hand in hers but looking past Beca. Beca looked at her nervously, "You aren't breaking up with me, are you Bree?"

The air rushed out of Aubrey as she came back from her musings, finally looking at Beca and seeing the panic in her eyes, "Oh baby, no…no, it's nothing like that. It's good, at least I think it will be good." Her shoulders sagged, "At least I hope it's going to be good."

Beca squeezed her hand, "What is it Bree?"

Aubrey sighed again, "I'm going to tell my parents about you, about us."

Beca smiled, "Really?" Then her smile faltered a little, "I'm supposing there's a reason you don't want me there?"

Aubrey tipped her head to the side as she looked at the love of her life, "Yes and no. The no is because I would love nothing more than to show you off to everyone because I love you Beca and I'm so very proud of you. The yes is because I don't know how my parents will handle this and I think it will be better if I let them know about us by myself."

Beca didn't look happy about it, but she finally gave Aubrey a small smile and pulled her in for a chaste kiss, "Alright Bree, you know what's best for your family. But if they give you a hard time I'm coming up there and kicking their asses."

Aubrey laughed as she pulled Beca into a hug, "I wouldn't have it any other way baby."

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Aubrey stepped through the door and set her bags down as she yelled, "Mom, Dad, I'm home."

She smiled at her mother as she came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. Soon she was enveloped in a hug, "Dinner is almost ready. How was the drive up?"

She melted into the embrace, "It was fine. Hit a bit of traffic coming out of Atlanta, but it was smooth sailing after that."

She stepped out of her mother's embrace as she heard her father coming down the stairs. She unconsciously stood a bit straighter as he hit the bottom of the stairs, "Hello Dad."

Her father put his hands on her arms, holding her at arms-length as he looked at her, "Aubrey, you're looking well. Still top of your class?"

Aubrey smiled, "Yes Sir."

He nodded, "I wouldn't expect anything less from a Posen. Now come on in and tell us all about what you've been up to."

She followed her parents to the kitchen while they made small talk about their week. Aubrey had never seen her father this relaxed and informal. He actually stayed in the kitchen and talked with the two women while they went about the final touches for dinner rather than sitting in the den and enjoying a glass of scotch. As she was setting the table Aubrey told them about being invited back to intern for the same Law firm in the summer and she heard about some business deals her father had recently made. As they continued to talk through dinner, Aubrey felt her nerves relaxing a little; maybe this wouldn't be that bad after all.

After they finished, her father did retire to the den for his glass of scotch while Aubrey and her mother cleared the table. When they had finished, they joined him in the den, settling into their normal places (Aubrey on the loveseat and her mother next to her father on the couch, her hand resting comfortably on his thigh).

Her father cleared his throat, "Aubrey, you seem a little on edge. What is it?"

Aubrey swallowed, "Umm…Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you."

Her Dad sat up straighter, "You aren't pregnant are you?"

A nervous laugh, sounding almost like a bark, escaped Aubrey before she could stop it. She shook her head slightly, "No Dad, I'm not pregnant. I am seeing someone though and it's gotten pretty serious."

That seemed to relax her father a little. He sat back, but his posture was still tense, "So tell me about this man that you are seeing. Is he being a gentleman with you?"

Aubrey looked down, speaking to her lap, "About that, she is a perfect gentlewoman with me."

Her announcement was met with silence. She took a timid look up to see her father's face getting redder by the second. Finally he broke the silence, "She?" All Aubrey could do is nod at his question. Her father erupted off of the couch, his scotch splashing from the tumbler he was holding with the sudden movement, "No! You are a Posen and you will not disgrace our family like this. We both know this is just a phase and when you go back to Atlanta you will tell this woman as much. You need to get this out of your system and find a good man to marry."

Aubrey shrank back into herself as her father shouted at her. When he told her it was just a phase, the anger started in the pit of her stomach. How dare he say that the woman she loved was 'just a phase.' The week she had spent apart from Beca made her realize how much the woman meant to her and she knew without a doubt that 'phase' was as far from the truth as it could be. When her father finished, she stood up and looked at him hard, "This is not a phase Dad, I love this woman with all of my heart and I know she loves me just as much. I'm thinking about asking her to marry me."

Aubrey couldn't remember ever seeing her father at a loss for words, but here he was sputtering for something to say. Finally he muttered, "No. I forbid you to marry a woman. You can't do that to the family."

Aubrey felt the anger causing her chest and cheeks to flush red, "I'm not doing anything to the family. I'm doing what is right for me." She touched his arm, causing him to flinch back continuing softly, "If you could just see the way she loves me, maybe then you'd understand."

He pulled away, turning away and moving to the window and staring out, "No. I will never accept this."

Aubrey's shoulders sagged and she sighed, "Fine. I understand. I'm tired from the drive so I think I'll turn in." She moved across the room and gave her mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek, noticing the look of pain in her eyes. Aubrey understood that her mother had stayed out of the conversation because this was something between her and her father, but it still hurt a little that she didn't say anything to support her. She gave one last look at her father standing in the window and then left the room when he continued to stare at nothing, refusing to acknowledge her.

She gave a quick call to Beca letting her know that she arrived safely and telling her that everything was going well. She didn't like giving the little white lie to her girlfriend, but she didn't want the brunette worrying about her (well, worrying more than she already was) and she knew Beca's comment about coming up and kicking ass wasn't an idle threat. After she hung up with her girlfriend, she put her pajamas on and curled up in the bed, refusing to cry over her father's reaction and failing miserably.

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Mr. Posen woke and rolled over, looking blearily at the clock next to the bed – 6:02 a.m. He rolled over to find the spot next to him empty, which was odd because his wife was never up before him. He rolled out of bed and slipped into his robe before heading to the restroom for his morning routine.

He walked down the stairs and stopped half way down, finally noticing Aubrey's suitcases sitting next to the door. He couldn't help the frown that worked its way onto his face. He continued down the steps into the kitchen, finding his wife and daughter laughing with each other over a cup of coffee. He cleared his throat as he walked into the room, looking between the two women. The light conversation died as they noticed him and their smiles were replaced with more serious expressions, which worried him slightly, "Good morning. I noticed the bags by the door, are you going somewhere Aubrey?"

Aubrey set her coffee down on the counter and turned to look at him with a look he had never seen his daughter direct at him before, something between anger and disappointment. She walked over and leaned up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek, her hand resting on his arm. She stepped back, leaving her hand on his arm, "I'm heading back to Atlanta."

Confusion crossed his face as he answered, "I thought you were staying the entire week."

She smiled sadly at him, "I was, but I can't stay somewhere that I'm not wanted."

He frowned, "What do you mean, where you're not wanted? Of course you're wanted here."

The sad smile remained when she replied, "No Daddy, I'm not; at least not all of me. I love Beca, that's her name you know, with all of my heart. She's a part of me now and you can't love that part of me. So I'm heading back to Atlanta to spend the rest of our break with the woman who will always love me, unconditionally."

She gave his arm a pat and then walked by him, heading to the door. She turned to find that both of her parents had followed. She opened the door and turned back to her parents. She leaned in and gave her mother a hug, "I love you Mom. I'll call you later this week." The she turned to her father, "I love you Daddy, but I have to follow my heart even if it means losing you. I'll understand if you want to stop paying my tuition, just let me know so I can figure things out."

Her Mom hastily grabbed her arm, gaining her attention. She looked softly into Aubrey's eyes, "There will be no cutting of anybody off. You will always be my daughter and we will always support you." She looked up at her husband with a hard look that caused him to give a hurried nod.

Aubrey gave a nod and turned to grab her bags when a hand on her arm stopped her. She turned about to see her father looking at her with, was that pride?

Mr. Posen was proud of his daughter. She had grown into a wonderful woman that knew what she wanted in this world and wasn't afraid to get it. That's all he ever wanted for his children, to be true to themselves. He always tried to instill a work ethic and confidence in his children and while he may not have been the most affectionate father, he loved his children dearly and only wanted the best for them. So he tried to push past his prejudices and he gave his daughter a tentative smile, "If this woman loves you half as much as you seem to love her, I'm going to have to meet her before I give my approval for anything…like marriage."

Before he knew Aubrey was wrapping her arms around him in a fierce hug. He tentatively wrapped his arms around her, feeling the tears falling against his neck. All he heard was a whisper, repeated like a prayer, "Thank you Daddy. Thank you…thank you…"

Aubrey finally pulled back from him, wiping the tears from her cheeks. He smiled down at her, "I'm not promising anything, but I will give this Beca a chance." He paused, giving a smirk that reminded Aubrey of her Beca, "But she better be treating you like the princess you deserve to be treated as." Aubrey smiled, nodding. He chuckled, "Don't worry, I'll try not to hold her to any higher standards than I would anyone else you brought home."

Aubrey nodded to herself before turning back to the door and grabbing her bags. She turned around when she got out the door, "I love you both. I'll bring Beca to meet you soon."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Alright, just a reminder that I know nothing (I'm kinda like John Snow there…I so wish I could say I drink and I know things, but alas I don't know things ). I know I'm probably wrong on both the military stuff and the producer stuff…please don't crucify me on it. The military stuff all comes from various conversations I've had with friends actually in the service and having some knowledge of defense contractors and the music producer stuff is what I'd like to see happen for Beca in the future (even if it isn't really possible).

Sorry it took so long to get back to this one, I really didn't know where I was going to go with the meeting between Beca and Mr. Posen…still not positive where it will finally end up, still deciding on whether to go one direction or not…we'll see I guess.

Anyway…happy reading!

Disclaimer:

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Aubrey let herself quietly into Beca's apartment, thankful that Stacie had gone to Daytona Beach for spring break so she wouldn't have to worry about disturbing her. She smiled to herself as she noticed that her girlfriend was taking full advantage of not having classes or a girlfriend for the week, sleeping in much later than normal. Aubrey set her purse down on Beca's couch and then snuck into her room, sliding in under the covers and wrapping herself around the smaller girl.

Beca wiggled back into the blonde, "This is either the best dream ever or you have some explaining to do."

Aubrey kissed her neck, "It's not a dream baby, I'm back a little earlier than I planned."

Beca rolled over and looked hard at Aubrey, "Do I need to kick someone's ass?"

Aubrey gave Beca a smile and shook her head, "No, it ended up alright in the end, so no kicking of asses yet."

Beca pulled the blonde to her, giving her a proper welcome home kiss. Aubrey sighed when it was finished, "Mmmmm…I needed that."

Beca brushed her nose over Aubrey's, "How about you tell me all about it over coffee."

Aubrey chuckled, "Can you not do anything without coffee in the morning."

Beca shrugged, "I can, but it can get really ugly."

Aubrey rolled over and pulled Beca's arm around her waist, "I don't want to get out of bed quite yet. Can we just talk here?"

Beca sensed there was more going on here than Aubrey was letting on so she wrapped her arms tighter around the blonde and kissed her neck, "We can stay here all day if we need to baby." Aubrey gave a soft sigh as she squeezed Beca's arms around her waist. Beca nuzzled her nose into Aubrey's hair, "Why don't you tell me what happened."

Aubrey started telling Beca about the trip and when she got to the part about telling her father and his response, Beca angrily sat up and moved to get out of bed, "I thought you said I didn't have to kick anyone's ass."

Aubrey smiled at how protective Beca was being and reached out and grabbed her hands, pulling her back down, "Let me finish my story before you start kicking asses."

Beca huffed, "Well he better have apologized and begged your forgiveness or I still might go kick his ass."

Aubrey smiled as she pulled Beca into a soft kiss, "My knight in shining armor."

Beca kissed Aubrey's nose, "My princess."

Aubrey scoffed but didn't refute the statement. After Aubrey flipped back over and wiggled back into her spot against Beca, she continued with her story. She told Beca about the long talk she had with her mother, who really wants to meet the woman who stole Aubrey's heart. Then she told her about how she stood up to her father, telling him that if he couldn't love all of her, then he really didn't love her. Then when she went to leave he told her that he wanted to meet the woman that Aubrey loved.

Beca still didn't like this, Aubrey threatening to leave because her dad couldn't accept that she loved a woman. But she didn't say anything because it was Aubrey's family, not hers, and if there was any chance that she could help Aubrey keep her family then she would do it.

Aubrey gave her arm a little shake, "Did you even hear me Beca? I asked if you had plans for the rest of spring break?"

Beca shook herself out of her thoughts, "No, sorry I missed the question. No, I don't have anything planned. I'm all yours baby."

Aubrey rolled over and looked into Beca's eyes, "Will you come home with me then?"

Beca rolled her eyes playfully, "If I have to."

Aubrey shook her head at the brunette, "You are terrible."

Beca shrugged at her girlfriend, "Yah, but you love me anyway."

Aubrey just murmured, "Yes I do."

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Aubrey's dad was pacing the front entry and Mrs. Posen couldn't help but hide a small smile. She didn't know if she'd ever seen him this nervous. She placed a hand on his arm to stop his pacing, which he did as he stepped next to her and gave her a strained smile. The door opened and Aubrey flew in, wrapping him in a hug before moving over to wrap her arms around her mom. Aubrey stood next to her mother, her arm around her waist as she turned to the door, "Mom, Dad, I'd like you to meet Beca Mitchell."

He looked to the doorway to see a small brunette setting down a suitcase without looking away from him. Her forehead was pinched as she gave him a hard stare. Not one to back down, Mr. Posen returned the stare just as aggressively. He gave the woman a quick appraisal, too many piercings, makeup too dark, just what the hell did his daughter see in this woman? Beca walked towards him with her hand outstretched, "Mr. Posen."

He took her hand and found her handshake to be firm, too firm for a pleasant meeting. He squeezed his hand just that much tighter but the woman in front of him never flinched. Instead she glowered at him harder, "I know you're Aubrey's father, but if you ever break her heart like you did the other day, we'll be having words."

Aubrey gasped and went to grab Beca. Two things held her back, her mother's arm around her waist tightened and she leaned over to whisper, "Don't, they both need this," and her father turning to her with a 'don't you dare' glare.

Mr. Posen continued with his firm grip, "Understood, but if you ever break her heart, I will find you and we'll be having words, understood?"

Beca suddenly deflated, her eyes turning to Aubrey with a hurt look. She nodded, "I've already done that once and I plan on making it up to her every day for the rest of my life."

Mr. Posen's gaze softened slightly, knowing there was a story there that he'd need to hear someday. Instead of a lengthy response, he just gave what appeared to be a hereditary singular nod (it looked so much like Aubrey's it was scary), "Good."

Mrs. Posen stepped away from Aubrey and gave her hands a clap, "Alright you two, let's get you settled. Aubrey, you're in your room of course and Beca can have Robert's room."

Aubrey gave her mother an exasperated expression, "Seriously mom, separate rooms? It's not like we can get pregnant."

Mrs. Posen glared at her daughter, "One, inappropriate missy; two, you are not married so you will sleep in separate rooms. My house, my rules."

Aubrey huffed but Beca put her hand on Aubrey's arm, giving her a small smile, "It's fine baby, we do live in separate apartments."

Aubrey glowered at her, "And that's changing as soon as our leases are up."

Beca held up her hands in surrender, "Yes dear."

Aubrey couldn't hold her frown and brought Beca to her to give her a kiss, "Seriously, let's move in together as soon as possible."

Beca brushed her thumb over Aubrey's lip as the kiss ended, "I'd love that baby."

Beca caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Mrs. Posen standing there with her head tipped to the side looking at them the same way Chloe looks when she watches puppy videos on Facebook. Mrs. Posen noticed Beca looking at her and kind of shook herself before giving Beca a soft smile. Then she cleared her throat, "Alright girls, go get your things situated, lunch will be ready in about half an hour."

Beca grabbed their suitcase and followed Aubrey upstairs. She pointed at one bedroom, "That's going to be yours and this is mine." She smiled as she walked into her room, pointing at the bed, "Why don't you just set that there."

Beca took in all of the pink and gave Aubrey a smirk, "I always knew you were a princess at heart."

Aubrey shushed her with a light slap, "Hush you. Sorry about the separate rooms. I didn't think my mom would insist because…well, because you aren't a guy and I've had sleepovers before."

Beca raised her eyebrow, "With girlfriends?"

Aubrey blushed, "Well no, but one of my friends and I did experiment once."

Beca laughed and pulled Aubrey into a hug, "My little rebel."

Aubrey pulled back and brushed a quick kiss over her lips, "Okay, get whatever you are going to need situated. My guess is she won't even let you dress in here. Then take care of anything you need to and get your cute butt back in here so we can spend a little time together before lunch."

It took the two girls almost twenty minutes before everything was settled and they finally plopped down on Aubrey's bed. Beca lay against the headboard on one side of the bed while Aubrey sprawled across the bed, her head in Beca's lap while Beca slowly ran her finger through Aubrey's hair.

Aubrey tipped her head back slightly, "Alright Becs, what was all of that with my Dad?"

Mr. Posen was just coming up to let the girls know lunch was about ready when he heard his name. He stopped just to the side of the door and listened as Beca responded, "Just because I told you I wasn't going to kick his ass for hurting you doesn't mean I have to play nice. He hurt you baby and I won't let anyone hurt you, not even your father. You came home after one day of being here Aubrey, one day. He deserves a little of my anger."

Aubrey smiled at her protective girlfriend, "I know, but he's my Daddy."

Beca raised her eyebrow at Aubrey, "I thought we decided that I was going to be me. You told me not to take out my piercings or change anything about me because you love me the way I am and they would need to too. This is me baby, I'm not going to play nice with anyone that hurts you."

Aubrey sighed, "I know Becs, but can you please tone it down just a little?"

Beca sighed and tugged on her Aubrey's ear playfully, "Fine, I'll tone it down for you." Then she gave Aubrey a soft smile, "You're lucky I love you."

Mr. Posen quietly went back to the stairs and waited about thirty seconds before walking to the room again and knocking on the doorframe, "Lunch is ready. Aubrey, what would your mother say about the two of you being alone in the room?"

Aubrey smiled at her father, "You know she wouldn't say anything, we are just laying here talking with the door wide open.

Mr. Posen gave a half shrug, "Well, you just make sure you follow all her rules."

Aubrey smiled as she got up, giving her father a kiss on the cheek, "Yes Sir."

Mr. Posen smiled at her, "Good. Now let's go eat." He held his hand out towards Beca, "Beca."

Beca gave him a small smile, not quite ready to completely forgive him but she would tone it down as she promised Aubrey. So she got up and followed Aubrey out, giving him a "thank you Mr. Posen," as she walked past.

The four of them sat around the table a little awkwardly, as first meals with someone's parents usually are. Mr. Posen finally spoke, "So Beca, what are you going to school for?"

Beca set down her fork and wiped her mouth on her napkin, a small smile forming as it usually did when she got to talk about music, "I'm majoring in Music and Business."

Mr. Posen's head tipped a little to the side as he thought about that, "Hmmm…not really two majors you see together often."

Beca gave a little shrug, "Well I want to go into music producing, so the music part of that is obvious. But I'd eventually like to move off on my own, maybe set up my own studio or label. That's where the business degree comes in, Barden has an excellent Entrepreneurial Business program."

Mr. Posen nodded his head, at least the girl was thinking ahead. But were her plans practical? He asked his next question, "So…what is the likelihood that you'll eventually set up your own studio?"

Beca sat up straighter in her chair, "I don't actually know. It all depends on getting some breaks early in my career. I could just be a low level assistant producer my entire career, but I want to be prepared to make the most of any opportunities that present themselves."

Aubrey leaned over and placed her hand over Beca's, her thumb rubbing lightly over the back of her hand, "Oh, don't you even say that. You know you're going to rock the music world." Then she turned to her mom, "She is so good Mom, did you know she did all of the arrangements for the Bellas in the World's last year? She's really the reason we won."

Beca blushed at the praise, but couldn't take all of it, "No, I just supplied the music, you're the one that made us, the biggest group of misfits I've ever seen, into an actual group. My arrangements would have been no good if you wouldn't have gotten the girls ready to sing them."

Aubrey squeezed Beca's hand and smiled at her before letting go so they could both finish their meal. After a few more bites, Beca looked up at Mr. Posen, "So Mr. Posen, what do you do? All Aubrey has really told me is that you used to be a bigwig in the military and now you run the family business."

Mr. Posen smiled, because like Beca, he enjoyed what he did. He started with, "Well, I don't know about bigwig, but I retired as a Colonel from the Air Force."

Mrs. Posen took the opportunity to lightly reprimand him, "Oh you hush, that is a bigwig and you know it."

Mr. Posen shrugged, "So I retired as a Colonel and then as Aubrey said I moved into a leadership role in a number of businesses our family controls."

Beca looked impressed, "What kinds of businesses do you run?"

Mr. Posen explained, "My family has always been involved in businesses tied to the military, which is one of the reasons I decided to serve. What better way to understand the needs of the military than to actually be there, on the front lines, so to speak."

Beca interrupted, "Were you ever on the front lines?"

Mr. Posen nodded as Mrs. Posen mimicked Aubrey earlier, placing her hand over her husband's, her thumb soothingly rubbing over the back of his hand, "I was deployed a total of four times." Beca saw something haunted in his eyes as he said that and for once in her life, not one single smart ass comment came to mind. Mr. Posen shook himself slightly, "But I made it back to my family every time."

Beca nodded, "So, what do your companies do then?"

Mr. Posen looked grateful for the change in topic, "Well, let's see, one company is currently working on designing and producing a better laser targeting system for the Air Force. Another is producing the best body armor out there for the young men and women that actually have boots on the ground in various hot spots."

Beca looked impressed, "That is so cool."

Mr. Posen smiled, "Thank you."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Alright, so here's the next chapter. I always felt bad about how I had Aubrey's parents treat her in 'I Want to Wake Up Where You Are' so I my mind thought I needed to go a little too far in the opposite direction…oh well. No, Aubrey's dad isn't quite over his worries about his daughter being gay, but I think he's well on his way to realizing that it really doesn't matter who she loves because he loves the person she's become…awwww.

And holy crap, I didn't know there were still that many readers of this story. Sorry I didn't get back to it a little sooner. Thanks for sticking with me on this one guys and gals! And thanks for the reviews

Disclaimer: I own nothing Pitch Perfect but I like writing it.

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They finished lunch and Mr. Posen stood up, "Beca, would you join me in the study while the other ladies finish with the lunch dishes." While the phrasing was a question, the tone of it wasn't. He wanted to see Beca alone.

Beca followed him into the study where Mr. Posen indicated a seat across from his desk. He waited for Beca to sit before he closed the door and then moved behind the desk and took his seat. There was an awkward silence until Mr. Posen tented his fingers on the desk as he leaned forward, "Alright, I was going to offer you money to break up with my daughter but I have a feeling that would just insult you."

Beca huffed angrily as she stood up, "You're damn straight it would insult me. I thought you told Aubrey you'd try. Is this you trying?"

She started storming for the door but Mr. Posen's tired, "Beca, please wait. Let me explain."

Beca stopped with her hand on the door. She turned and looked at him with a glare. He pleaded again as he gestured to her chair, "Please?"

Beca glared at him but moved back to her seat, "This better be good."

Mr. Posen rubbed his hands over his face before leaning back in his chair, "I did tell Aubrey I was going to treat you like any other suitor. That's where the dilemma comes in, I've only tried to bribe about half of her brothers' suitors, so I was caught with 'should I or shouldn't I'." He sighed, "But then I saw how she looked at you and how you treated her and knew that you'd reject any offer I made."

Beca looked at him hard, "Then why even bring it up?"

Mr. Posen chuckled self-depreciatively, "So you'd know that I was treating you fairly and honestly, I was kind of curious how you'd react."

Beca shrugged, "Well, honestly the only reason I went for the door instead of trying to punch you is that I told Aubrey I'd tone it down."

Mr. Posen sighed, "You really do love my daughter, don't you."

Beca nodded solemnly, "With everything that I am."

Mr. Posen tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling, "You know, when it's other people it's so easy to judge. That's disgusting. That's so wrong. I'd never. How could they? But when it's suddenly someone you know, someone you love, it's not that black and white. How can the love I see in my daughter's eyes be wrong?" He sighed as he looked down at Beca, "Sorry for waxing philosophical on you, but I've only had a couple of days to get used to the idea that my daughter is gay."

Beca shrugged, "Is she any different now than she was three days ago, before you knew? Or any different than she was when she was ten years ago?"

Mr. Posen almost laughed at Beca's shocked face when he responded, "Yes. Yes, she actually is." He held up his hand to stop Beca's response, "It's a good thing. I've never seen my daughter more confident and sure in her skin as I have these past few days. It's the kind of confidence you have when you know someone will always be there for you, will always have your back. I know all about it, because it's the same confidence Helen has given me for the past 32 years."

Beca sat there speechless until Mr. Posen continued, "But that brings me to my next question. When you first arrived, you mentioned breaking my daughter's heart. If you're willing to tell me the story, I'd appreciate hearing it."

Beca nodded. She thought of how to begin before finally starting, "Your daughter idolizes you Mr. Posen. She always has and I think she always will. Just about everything she does is calculated based on if you'd approve or not. So, we had been dating for a year and something she said when we had first started dating came back to haunt me over our anniversary dinner. After dinner I asked her where she saw herself in twenty years, with me or with some guy that you could walk her down the aisle for. She couldn't answer me. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, walking out the door on Aubrey, but I gave her a week to decide what she wanted because I wasn't going to be a placeholder for _your_ perfect guy. I just wanted her to be happy, you know. If she had chosen the perfect guy over me I would have been out there trying to find her someone you approved of even as it was breaking my heart, because I just want to see her happy."

Mr. Posen sat there a little stunned, "She was willing to give you up just so I'd walk her down the aisle?"

Beca nodded solemnly, "I'm so happy she decided I was worth fighting for, but yes I almost lost the woman I love because she was so worried you would be disappointed in her." Beca's gaze softened, "She just wants you to be proud of her."

Mr. Posen looked slightly shocked, "Of course I'm proud of her."

Beca tipped her head to the side as she looked at him, "Have you ever told her that?"

Mr. Posen stuttered, "Of course I have." Beca gave him a disbelieving look, making Mr. Posen a little uncomfortable, "Alright, maybe not as much as I could have."

Beca nodded, "You should try telling her."

Mr. Posen nodded back, "Well, I think I've learned a lot today. Thank you for being honest with me Beca."

Beca held up her hand, "I have one more thing, while we are talking honestly." Mr. Posen nodded for her to continue. Beca held Mr. Posen's eyes with hers, projecting a confidence she didn't really have at the moment, "I'd like your blessing to ask your daughter to marry me."

Mr. Posen gave a soft sigh, "No." Beca started to stammer out a response but he stopped her with a gesture, "I've only just met you and I'm still not sure how I feel about this gay thing, so I have to say no." Then he gave her a smile, "But come back in about six months and ask again."

Beca smiled back, "I can live with that. Aubrey's happiness is worth waiting six months for."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The two girls spent the afternoon walking around the neighborhood where Aubrey grew up, well at least the last few years of high school. They walked hand in hand as Aubrey would excitedly point to one landmark or a particular shop that she used to frequent. Beca just enjoyed being with her girlfriend and seeing some of the things that shaped Aubrey into the wonderful woman that she was.

Aubrey tried several times over the course of the afternoon to get Beca to talk about what her father said to her. Beca would either outright tell her that she promised she wouldn't discuss it or would gently deflect the conversation back to neutral territory. Finally Aubrey gave a huff, "Well if you won't tell me what you talked about, can you at least ease my mind by telling me if he was at least civil to you?"

Beca laughed as she pulled Aubrey around and wrapped her arms around the blonde's waist. Aubrey's arms automatically moved up to link her hands behind Beca's neck. Beca rose up on her tiptoes to plant a light kiss on Aubrey's lips before informing her, "Your dad and I had a good talk and yes he was very civil to me. In fact he was almost pleasant for most of the time." Aubrey gave her patented single nod (now that Beca had seen it on Mr. Posen she was a little creeped out by how similar they were).

The two women made it back just in time to help Aubrey's mom set the table for dinner. The three women talked about where the girls had gone on their walk and what their plans were for the following day. Just as they were finishing up, Mr. Posen walked in and asked if there was anything he could do to help. Mrs. Posen walked by him and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek, resting her hand on his forearm, "Why don't you get the pitcher of water out and then I think everything is ready."

When Mr. Posen came back with the water, they all sat down to the meal. As with lunch, the meal started a little awkwardly, but soon a constant flow of voices carried around the table. About half way through the meal Mr. Posen set his fork down and looked at Aubrey, "Aubrey, do you want to be a lawyer?"

Aubrey looked at him like he had lost his mind, "Of course I want to be a lawyer, I'm in Law School."

Mr. Posen sighed, taking another tack, "If you could do anything at all with the rest of your life, what would it be. Forget about me, forget about Beca, forget about your mother. What would you do with your life if you could do anything?"

Aubrey asked in a panicky voice, "Where is this coming from Daddy?"

Mr. Posen gave Beca a knowing look before turning to his daughter, "Your very astute girlfriend said some things this afternoon that started me thinking. Now what would you do?"

Aubrey spoke down into her hands, folded in her lap, "I would be a music teacher."

Mr. Posen smiled, "You'd be good at that. Just the right combination of bossy and caring."

Aubrey looked up at him, "You wouldn't be mad?"

Mr. Posen shrugged, "Aubrey, I'd be proud of you whatever you decided to do. I know I would be because I'm proud of the woman you've become."

Aubrey looked at Beca, tears starting to stream down her face, then she looked back at her father before she muttered a quick, "Excuse me," and rushed from the table.

Beca went to go after her but Mr. Posen stood up, saying, "Beca, please let me." Beca nodded, but gave a worried look at the doorway that Aubrey had just run through. Mrs. Posen put a comforting hand on Beca's arm, rubbing it back and forth slightly.

Mr. Posen found Aubrey in her room, sitting on her bed with tears still trailing down her cheeks. He sat down next to her, the air seeming to hang in the room. He reached over and took his daughter's hand, linking their fingers together as he pulled it towards him so he could rest his other hand on top of their linked hands. The two of them sat that way for a few minutes, not saying anything but enjoying the silent presence of the other.

Mr. Posen finally spoke, "I'm sorry I pressured you into becoming a lawyer."

Aubrey immediately started to protest but he silenced her with a light squeeze of her hand and a quiet, "Hush, let me talk." Aubrey nodded at his request. He looked at their linked hands, her smaller hand in his and he fell back into his memory of a much smaller hand in his as they talked about the future, a future his daughter was now on her way to living out. Finally he spoke again, "You know your brothers never paid much attention to me after the age of eight or so. They were too interested in sports or bikes or girls to sit and listen to their father. But not you, my little angel. You would sit and listen to me talk for hours and eventually I started talking about my dreams for my children. How I wanted you to be a successful lawyer and come and take over the family business, because your brothers sure didn't want anything to do with it. Now I realize that was what I wanted for you and I never asked what you wanted."

Aubrey responded with a quiet voice, "I've only ever wanted to make you proud Daddy."

Mr. Posen let go of Aubrey's hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her against him. He quietly told her, "I am proud of you, so very proud of you Aubrey. You won a National championship. You graduated with honors. You were accepted into almost every Law School you applied to. But those are just pieces of paper and honors. Do you know what I'm most proud of?"

Aubrey shook her head against his chest, fresh tears flowing down her cheeks. Mr. Posen gave another squeeze with his arm, "I'm most proud of the woman you've become. I see a confident woman who isn't afraid to stand up for herself or what she believes is right, even if it means going against the one person she's been trying to please her entire life. I see someone with courage, fire, and compassion. I see a woman who loves with her whole heart."

Aubrey wrapped her arms around her father's neck, hugging him tightly. She cried against him as she told him, "I love you so much Daddy."

Mr. Posen hugged his daughter back, the act taking him back to when Aubrey was a little girl, he simply responded, "I love you too Angel."

The nickname she hadn't heard in years caused Aubrey to laugh through her tears, the sound coming out as a hiccupping noise. She pulled back with her hand over her mouth, laughing even harder. He looked at her fondly, "Now if we don't get back downstairs soon I think your overly protective girlfriend is going to come after me."

Aubrey smiled at his teasing tone, "You go down and let her know I'm alright and I'll be down soon. I just want to freshen up a little."

Mr. Posen nodded as he got up. He stopped in the doorway as he was walking out and turned back to Aubrey, "If you want to go back to school for a teaching certificate, I won't be disappointed."

Aubrey beamed at him, "I'll think about it. And thank you Daddy."

He smiled back at her, "You know, I think I like Daddy a lot more than I do Sir." Aubrey's smile got even larger (if that were possible).

Mr. Posen returned to the table to find Beca and his wife in an animated discussion about cooking, of all things. He gave his wife a confused look and she just chuckled at him, "Beca was asking about how to cook some of Aubrey's favorite foods. She was having a hard time understanding the concept that instant grits are not the same as real grits."

Mr. Posen scoffed, "Like anyone would confuse the two."

Beca sighed, "Instant oatmeal is the same as regular oatmeal, why not for grits?"

Mr. Posen playfully glared at her, "Watch yourself or you'll find yourself sleeping on the porch."

Beca laughed, holding up her hands. Then she asked, "Is she okay?"

Then she jumped a little as she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, "Yes, she's okay." Beca smiled as she turned her head up to receive a quick kiss from her girlfriend.

She sighed quietly as Aubrey sat back down next to her. Beca's hand automatically reaching out for Aubrey's to ensure herself that her girlfriend was alright. She leaned over and whispered, "Are you sure everything's alright."

The smile that couldn't seem to leave her face for long returned as she kissed Beca's cheek, whispering back, "It couldn't be better." When Beca gave her a look she laughed and added, "Honestly."


End file.
